Venom
by Haine-chan
Summary: After a heated battle with Executive Proton of Team Rocket, Lyra is suddenly bitten by his Golbat! Soon, she begins having bizarre thoughts and dreams about Team Rocket. As the poison works its way through her body, will Gold and Silver be able to find a cure in time? Or will Proton's venom consume her entire being?
1. Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 1

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

_Feels like something bit me and I think I like the venom._

"Chikorita, use tackle!"

"Counter it with smog, Koffing!"

The battle began to intensify as the evasive koffing dodged the chikorita's attack and spread a noxious gas around its body. The tiny creature held its breath as it resisted the overwhelming urge to inhale the smoke.

"Hold on a little longer!" the petite brunette called out as the smoke began to dissipate. The Pokémon exhaled sharply as it prepared itself for the next command. She knew the battle would only escalate from here.

The battler, Lyra Soul, was currently engaged with the Team Rocket Executive, Proton. She had learned from Kurt, the pokeball maker, about a group of grunts cutting Slowpoke tails for profit and had tracked them here to the Slowpoke Well. She knew her Pokémon were strong and could handle taking on some evil grunts. The only thing she hadn't expected was to find one of their leading members heading the mission. She'd challenged him to a battle of course; how could she not, when he was holding that slowpoke tail in his hands and glaring at her with such intensity? It was her duty, after all, to thwart anything that threatened innocent Pokémon or people; she was a Pokedex holder. As she was beginning to regret having challenged the tall and imposing Executive, she remembered the backup plan she had thought of prior to her descent into the well. Since she had had no previous encounters with the villainous crime syndicate before, she had called her friends, Gold and Silver, to come and help her out if the need arose. They had yet to show up.

_I could really use them right now_, she thought disparagingly as she commanded her chikorita to use tackle once again.

Proton was proving to be a far greater opponent than she had expected. The grunts before him were just fodder for her chikorita and she had gone into this battle assuming an easy victory. He quickly turned her assumption upside down as he continued to pound attack after attack on her. All throughout the battle, she was reminded of the words he'd told her before their battle had begun.

_"I am known as the scariest and cruelest guy in Team Rocket…I strongly urge you not to interfere with our business!_"

She could notice the anger that flared in his teal eyes as her chikorita landed the final blow on his koffing. He grunted and returned the now unconscious Pokémon to its pokeball.

"You may be strong, kid," he said, grabbing the last pokeball on his belt. "But you'll feel a world of pain by the time I'm done with you!"

He released his golbat, which cried out in excitement as its laid eyes on the female duo.

Feeling the need to show the Executive she was not intimidated by his choice of words, Lyra retorted, "Well you'll feel a world of pain once I put your evil deeds to rest! Chikorita, use razor leaf!"

A flurry of leaves was sent hurtling towards the golbat, but as soon as they made contact, the Pokémon just smiled, seemingly undamaged by the onslaught.

She clenched her teeth as Proton laughed. "Do you really think your Pokémon stands a chance against me? I have the advantage here, little girl. Golbat, use mean look!"

Chikorita's eyes couldn't move from the Golbat's as it prevented the Pokémon from leaving the battle.

Knowing she didn't have the advantage, she told Chikorita to continue using razor leaf. The effects were the same as before and barely caused any damage.

"I'm getting tired of this petty fight," Proton said. "I'll finish this. Golbat, use acid!"

The poisonous sludge went flying towards the grass type Pokémon. Paralyzed by fear, the chikorita cried out in pain as it fell to the ground with a small thud and collapsed.

"Chikorita!" Lyra cried as she rushed to the creature's aid. She cuddled it close to her chest as she glowered up at the man.

"See? Messing with our plans will only cause you suffering." Proton grinned. "And since you've made my wrath grow, I'll make sure you learn a valuable lesson as well!" He motioned to his golbat and said, "Use poison fang!"

"What?!" Lyra said.

The bat flew towards her and Lyra curled up into a ball as she tried to protect the Pokémon from further harm. What she hadn't expected was to feel an exploding pain surge through her shoulder. She screamed in terror as she looked at the Pokémon digging its fangs deep into her flesh. Her blood slowly trickled down her shoulder as she felt it eat away at her.

"Just drink it up Golbat," urged Proton. "Don't stop."

Lyra could feel her energy levels taking a dramatic dip as the Pokémon kept sucking out her blood. _If they don't come soon, I'll be a dried up corpse!_ She thought sadly.

"Lyra!" yelled a voice.

Proton, Lyra and the golbat turned to see Gold and Silver entering the cave. As soon as the golbat noticed the oncoming trainers, he lifted his fangs out of Lyra's skin and hastily flew back to its master. She could see her blood dripping off of its fangs as the Executive patted it on the head.

"Lyra, you ok?" Gold said as he knelt beside her. He noticed the dark blood that stained her outfit and gasped. "What did he do to you?"

"Only what needed to be done," said Proton as he removed one of his gloves. "I did warn her, after all." He then wiped one of his golbat's fangs with his index finger and inspected the blood. A wide grin spread across his face.

"Team Rocket scum," said Silver as he placed a hand on one of his pokeballs.

"I have no time to wipe the floor with you two. Besides, I've completed my mission." Proton lifted the bloodied finger to his lips and licked it slowly. Just as the two men were about to attack the Executive, Proton threw a smoke bomb that allowed him to escape without a trace.

Gold turned his attention to the wounded Lyra as Silver inspected the place where Proton has disappeared. "Lyra? Are you alright? Can you tell us what happened?"

Lyra looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock. The only thing she could say to him was the only thought that was racing through her mind at a hundred miles per hour:

"It just _bit_ me!"

**A/N: It has been a long time since I've written any fanfiction. But I'm in a Pokémon mood so I'll be writing as much as this little spurt of inspiration will take me. The true spark for this new story is from a song called "Detention" by the School Gyrls. Although it doesn't accurately describe the entire story, I'll be posting lyrics from it at the top of each chapter that pertains to the storyline. Sometimes I'll change the wording a little to fit. And this chapter was a bit shorter because this story is only getting started. Hopefully I'll be able to update soon, so see you in the next chappie!**


	2. Give Me Sympathy

_Chapter 2_

_Give Me Sympathy_

_Gotta get you outta my system, but I know my heart won't listen._

Lyra sat upright in the PokeCenter bed, staring malevolently at the IV in her left arm. It had been pumping fluids and medicine into her system ever since she'd gotten there and she was thankful for all of the help she was receiving, but she had never _ever_ been a fan of the pointy mechanisms. She had not taken her eyes off of it since Nurse Joy had jabbed it into one of her veins only an hour ago. Silver and Gold had told her not to worry about it and that it would be out once the anti-venom had done its job. Silver had also added that she had a choice between sucking it up or die from complications due to the poison. She'd swallowed her pride and nodded, squinting her eyes incessantly until it was lodged into her skin.

She now looked up at the clock and sighed. She'd only been here for a little over an hour, but she felt like she'd been a prisoner here for days or even weeks. This endless waiting was getting to her. She loved to move and staying in one position for even a small amount of time was proving to be difficult. Lyra then turned her attention to the two boys. Gold was flopped down on a chair near her, flipping through an old magazine while Silver leaned against the window sill and stared outside. _At least they're handling the boredom better than I am. _

Just when she thought she couldn't wait any longer, Nurse Joy stepped inside the room. Both boys turned their attention to her as she approached Lyra. A chansey waddled behind her holding a silver tray with what looked like a cup of water and a small pill.

"Are you feeling better, Ms. Lyra?" she asked politely.

"Yes, very," she replied honestly. "The only thing that's bothering me is a bit of a headache."

"That's normal," She checked the IV drip and nodded. "It seems like you're almost done with the anti-venom and your vitals look fine. I'll have to keep you overnight though, just in case something happens, ok?"

Lyra did not want to stay any longer than what she already had, but she knew Silver and Gold would force her to stay. She sighed and said, "Yeah, that's fine."

The nurse smiled sweetly. "It's just regulations, dear. In the morning, I'll sign your discharge papers and you'll be free to go."

Gold stood up from his chair and said, "Um, Nurse Joy, are you sure the anti-venom you gave her will clear the poison out?"

She grinned and said, "That anti-venom is specifically designed for Golbat bites. It's what we call monovalent anti-venoms, which means it's targeted to one specific species of Pokémon's venom. Lyra is certainly not the first human to be bitten by a golbat." She motioned for the chansey to come forward. "Although the circumstances in which you received the bite is quite unique on its own…"

Lyra smiled at the chansey as it held its tiny arms out towards her, motioning for her to take the cup and the pill. She looked up at the Nurse in confusion.

"Chansey wants you to take an anti-inflammatory to help with the pain of the bite. It'll help you to rest."

"Oh," she said quietly as she took them. She placed the pill on her tongue and quickly took a drink, swallowing it in one try.

She turned her attention to Gold and Silver and said, "I'm sorry you two, but I'll have to ask you to leave."

"That's fine," Silver replied as he came to stand beside Gold.

"Try and get some sleep. Don't stay up and watch your stupid rom-coms all night." Gold chastised with a grin.

"But that was what I was going to take advantage of!" Lyra pouted.

"I'm not footing the bill," Silver scoffed.

"We'll talk to you in the morning," Gold said.

"Ok, see you," Lyra said with only a hint of sadness. As she watched her friends and Nurse Joy leave, she sighed slowly and reached for the pokeball that held her chikorita. She held it in her hand and said, "I can't believe all of this is happening, Chikorita. First I was travelling around Johto without a care in the world and now I've been bitten by a Team Rocket Executive's golbat!" She turned to look at the corner of the massive bandage that covered her wound. The process of cleaning and sterilizing it was almost as painful as the bite itself. Thankfully, the pain had dulled a bit and she knew she probably wouldn't feel anything once the pain pills kicked in. "But what I don't understand is…why?" The tiny Pokémon shook its head, indicating its confusion as well.

She closed her eyes and laid back on the bed, hugging the covers closer to her. "Oh, Chikorita…I can't wait for this to be over."

xxXXxx

Silver and Gold sat in the waiting room together, not wanting to leave Lyra completely alone yet not wanting to go against what Nurse Joy had said. They knew what Proton had done was completely beyond what any normal Rocket would do and they had a theory as to why.

"There must be something more to this than meets the eye," Gold stated.

"Of course there is," Silver huffed, folding his arms over his chest. "The question is how are we gonna get the answers we need?"

"It's pretty easy to find a Rocket nowadays, the only problem is finding one who was at the Slowpoke Well."

"Or finding Proton himself."

"You aren't seriously thinking of tracking down that lunatic?"

Silver scoffed. "If you want answers, you've gotta go to the source."

"There has to be some other way we can find out what's really going on without letting Team Rocket know…"

"Or Lyra."

Gold blinked in surprise. "You're not going to tell her?"

"Why? Did you see how scared she was when they put that needle in? She probably couldn't handle what we might uncover."

"Lyra is the strongest girl I've ever known. I am more than willing to bet she'd handle it just fine."

"Strength doesn't just apply to physicality, Gold. Have you noticed how she's been acting since that encounter with him? She's been so reserved since we've gotten here. Losing against Proton really hurt her pride. And if she knows we're one some sort of quest to find a hidden meaning behind it, she'll freak out."

"I guess so…" Gold said sadly. "But I still don't think it's right to go behind her back like this."

"It's not going behind her back at all. Tomorrow morning when she wakes up, she'll hopefully be back to her peppy and annoying self. And while she's off continuing her League quest, we'll do a little undercover work."

"Well, where do you suggest we start?" asked Gold as he stood up.

"We're in Azalea, and the Gym Leader Bugsy is an encyclopedia on bug-types. I was thinking that he may know a thing or two about poisonous Pokémon and their effects. I'll get in contact with him."

"Good idea. While you're talking with him, I'll see if I can find other people who've been attacked by golbats. I don't know how easy that will be, but I feel obligated to help, seeing as we weren't able to before." He shot a glance at Silver, who looked at the ground and sighed. "Ok then, have we got a deal?" He stuck out his right arm towards the red haired boy.

"Definitely." He shook Gold's hand tightly and added, "Anything to pound those Rocket freaks into the ground."

xxXXxx

Lyra was dreaming.

She was in the middle of a deep forest in the dark of night, alone. She could only make out blurry shapes in the distance. The air around her was damp and thick, causing a mist to seep along the ground. Her body shivered at the cold. She wanted to figure out exactly where she was and how she could get back to her friends, but the fog wasn't exactly helping her.

Soon though, it started to part in front of her, like a sort of pathway. Seeing no other way of finding out where she was, she followed it as it led her through the forest into a clearing. A short distance away was what seemed to be a tiny house. But how was that possible? No one lived in forests…

She walked towards it and noticed that it wasn't a house but instead a tiny shrine. Her head cocked to the side as she took in the ornate carvings and details on it. What she hadn't expected to notice was a dark form inside of the shrine. She hesitated to touch it, thinking it to be an offering of some sort. But her curiosity got the best of her as she slowly reached inside. Upon touching it, she gasped, feeling a smooth surface. Lyra picked it up gingerly and brought it out to see it in its entirety.

_A hat…?_

All of a sudden she heard footsteps from behind her. Fearing an attack from a wild Pokémon, she whipped around to see a tall figure all in black staring at her.

_Proton?_

"I see you've found it," he said, coming out of the shadow of the tree line. "If you look close enough, you'll find things you never knew existed."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Maybe even a power locked away inside you that you never even thought you had." He began walking towards her and she began backing up.

"Stop talking in riddles, Proton! Tell me, why did you attack me?"

"I can't give you all of the answers right now—that'll spoil the fun. You'll just have to wait and see." He smiled wickedly as she saw his golbat glare at her from behind him. She gasped as he extended his arm towards her. The Pokémon cried out as it flew past his shoulder flew towards her.

The last thing she heard was her scream piercing the air.

**A/N: So…I've begun to delve into plot! I'm actually gonna try and do some research on poisons and stuff but if it turns out to be a bust, I'll just make it up. Also I've decided to add lyrics from Elise Estrada's 'Poison' as well, because it makes sense. I hope you all are enjoying it and hope to see you in the next chappie!**


	3. Crimson Fatalism

Chapter 3

Crimson Fatalism

_I heard my friends all say he's trouble._

Silver stood outside the Azalea Gym with his arms folded tightly over his chest. He was slightly apprehensive about entering the gym, knowing that he'd previously stolen the Gym Leader, Bugsy's badge without him knowing. What if he had security cameras with footage of his theft? What if the Leader was just waiting for him to come back so he could report Silver to the police?

"That's ridiculous!" he spat. "There's no way some kid would be able to catch me. I'm not afraid of anything!" He huffed loudly and pushed himself through the doors of the gym. Preparing himself for the inevitable battles that the Leader might have waiting for him, he grabbed the pokeball containing his sneasel and held it firmly in his grasp. To his surprise, however, there were no pesky trainers to deal with. The only thing there to greet him was the forest that had been replicated within the building, along with its many bug-type Pokémon, which scurried away from him in fear. He scoffed. "Figures, he isn't even here,"

He continued walking throughout the gym, searching for the Leader and eventually made it to the back of the room, where a large tree sat sentinel. Crouched underneath its foliage was a young boy with bright purple hair. He seemed to be kneeling over something, a magnifying glass poised in his hand. He didn't look up when Silver approached.

_Who does he think he is some kind of Boy Scout? _Silver thought to himself as he took in his outfit. Sadly, though he didn't have much time to delve into the boy's choice of outerwear, instead reminding himself of how little time he had to spend getting the information he needed. Clearing his throat, he glowered down at the Leader and waited for him to respond.

The boy looked up from his work, noticed Silver standing there menacingly and stated calmly, "Oh, sorry, I'm not accepting challenges today—"

"I'm not here for a battle," Silver interrupted, venom dripping in his voice. "I've come for your…" He struggled to find a word that wouldn't necessarily convey his need of the Leader's expertise. _I hate asking for help from weaklings._ "…assistance."

A surprised look spread across Bugsy's face and he smiled. "Well, that's not something you hear every day, now is it?" He got up from his position on the floor and stretched out his muscles. "What can I do for you?"

"An acquaintance of mine was fighting against some members of Team Rocket in the Slowpoke Well yesterday. She defeated the grunts and proceeded in challenging one of their Executives—Executive Proton to be exact. After losing to him, he then used his golbat to physically attack her, biting her in the shoulder and injecting venom into her bloodstream. She was rushed to the Pokecenter and has been treated with antivenom, but I don't believe she's completely healed yet."

Bugsy's face contorted into a look of confusion. "That's a very serious case. Was there any motive behind the attack?"

"All she told me was that he had said it was supposed to 'teach her a lesson'."

The Leader sighed. "I'm sorry to say I haven't researched anything like this before."

Silver frowned, visibly angered at the fact that even a Gym Leader could be utterly useless. He scoffed and turned to leave.

Bugsy, noticing his change of moods quickly added, "However, I have done extensive testing on bug-type poisons and their effects. If you'd like, I could apply my knowledge of their venoms to Proton's golbat."

Silver stopped and directed his attention back to the Gym Leader. His expression softened a fraction, but his cold stare didn't waver. "And how would you go about doing that?"

"When I've gone out into the field, I've taken samples of various Pokémon's venom by aggravating it. Of course, it was in a controlled manner and once they released the venom, I collected it for data. Concerning this case, I would most definitely need a sample of Proton's golbat's venom, as well as a normal golbat's venom too. I need to compare them and see if there really are any differences between their make-ups. In addition, I'll need a blood sample from your acquaintance. I can analyze her blood and see if there are any traces of the venom left in her system."

The red head laughed indignantly. "You're asking a lot of me."

Bugsy grinned. "I could say the same for you, Mister…?"

"Silver,"

"Right. Well, I can't say I'm not intrigued by this. I've never heard of someone forcefully attacking another with a venomous Pokémon before. But on the other hand, I'm not surprised that someone from Team Rocket would try such a thing. Have you learned anything more about this Executive from your friend?"

"All she seemed to remember was him saying that he was the cruelest and scariest guy in Team Rocket and that she should be wary of making his wrath grow."

"Hmm…seems like a man who'll keep his word at any cost. This only begs more questions, like why attack her? And what seems to be the ulterior motive?"

Silver shrugged. "They are Team Rocket after all. They're nothing but lunatics and scoundrels who are weak and pathetic."

"You may be right about that when it concerns their grunts, but have you seen what a powerful can do?"

The red head smiled. This was his chance to take one step closer to finally crushing that group of misfits under his foot. He'd show them what true power was. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

xxXXxx

Proton sat at his chair around the table, eyes scanning the room. The meeting had only just begun, but he knew exactly what he was there for. His mission at the Slowpoke Well had gone off without a hitch; he'd even been able to skim some of the earnings off the top for himself. The only thing that had caught him off guard was the girl who had gotten in his way. _Little Lyra,_ he thought with disgust. That petite child with the ridiculous outfit had not only defeated all of his grunts, but had had the nerve to challenge _him_ to a battle. He had been gracious enough to tell her that he was cruel and unyielding in battle and that she should not meddle in his affairs. Had she taken his advice? Not at all. She had done fairly well against him; he had to give her that much credit, especially since she was using such an under leveled Pokémon as her chikorita. But it was because of her disregard for his warnings that he had unleashed his full power and used it to knock her right into the ground. That was how he got his nickname of the "scariest and cruelest guy in Team Rocket", after all. But even after her worthless chikorita had fallen, he still wasn't satiated. He needed blood—and his golbat readily agreed. Finding no harm in making the girl pay for her insolence, he'd taken a bite out of her right then and there—literally. He hadn't thought about it when he'd commanded the bat to use poison fang; his only thought was to watch her squirm and beg for forgiveness. It was only after he had left her there, blood oozing onto the rocks below her, that he had taken into consideration what his fellow Executives would think of his 'little distraction'.

Someone cleared their throat and everyone's attention turned to the tall, blue haired man who commandeered all of them. "Proton, I assume your mission at the Slowpoke Well was a successful one?"

The tone the interim head, Archer, used implied that he knew about the little escapade, but what Proton noticed was that his voice had a certain curiosity within it. No doubt he was intrigued that a man like him, who was known for his flawless execution of his missions, would be distracted.

"Yes," Proton replied coolly. "Everything went according to plan…" He paused slightly.

"But?"

"There was a bit of a detour from my main operative."

"What kind of detour?" asked Ariana coldly. Proton knew that she was a woman that should not—_could_ not—be messed with. All he needed to do was look in her blood red eyes to confirm his beliefs. She was absolutely ruthless, almost as much as he himself was. No matter who she faced, she could blow them away without breaking a sweat (which of course would ruin her perfectly applied make-up). The fact that she was questioning him implied her anger towards whatever might have interrupted his mission.

"Did Timmy fall down the well?" Petrel laughed. Always the joker of the group, Proton, even with his nearly inseparable bond with the goateed man, was not immune to his humour.

"Even better," Proton smiled. When the other Executives noticed his devious grin, they all smiled back, knowing his diversion had to be juicy.

"Do go on," Archer urged.

"As I was about to cut the last slowpoke tail, I heard someone shout at me to stop. Lo and behold, this little girl is standing in front of me, acting all high and mighty. When I tell her to leave or feel my wrath she challenges me to a battle! This girl, Lyra, was wearing the most ridiculous outfit I've ever seen, and she thinks she can beat me? Knowing she'd rejected my warnings, I accepted her challenge. She was a tough little firecracker, beating out my koffing quickly. But she had no clue what my golbat was capable of. I took down her scrawny little chikorita in a flash."

"What are you hiding, Proton?" Ariana smiled.

"Needless to say, I took it upon myself to teach her a lesson."

"Did you give her a good spanking?" added Petrel.

Proton smirked at his remark. "I suppose you could call it that. After I beat her chikorita, I realized my golbat wasn't quite done yet, so I let him take a bite out of her too."

"You attacked her?" questioned Archer.

The teal haired Executive nodded. "She screamed so loudly but I never stopped. Golbat had a very nice drink."

"What proceeded?"

"My fun didn't last too long, seeing as her pesky little friends came to rescue her. A dark haired boy and a red head heckled me for what I'd done, but I could tell that the venom had already sunken in."

Proton couldn't help the immense pride he felt as he watched his fellow Rockets eying him with astonishment and admiration. Never had any of them taken it upon themselves to assault their opponents.

"Do you know where she went?" Archer asked.

"Before I left, I heard one of them say they should take her to the Pokecenter in town. Heh, like they could help her now."

The interim head of Team Rocket sat up from his chair at the head of the table and smiled. Proton knew that smile; he was thinking, calculating. He folded his arms behind his back and looked at Proton. "How very right you are. I do believe this mission was a complete success. Congratulations, Proton."

**A/N: I never realized how many times I used the phrase "the scariest and cruelest guy in Team Rocket" before. It's in everything I write about the Four Generals. It's ridiculous! But I suppose I don't have much else to work with, besides the games and the manga. I've been reading so many great Proton fics lately, I just can't get enough. :3 I wish more people would write about them.**


	4. Sick Muse

Chapter 4

Sick Muse

_Oh, there's just one more thing that I forgot to mention._

Gold had been searching all across Azalea Town for anyone with a clue as to what a golbat's venom was like. He'd visited every house, asked every passer-by if they had even the slightest bit of information on the subject. But all he ever got in response was, "no, sorry I don't." By the tenth rejection, Gold had had enough, slumping down against a tree trunk and sighing to himself. His quilava, which had been patiently following him throughout their escapade, looked up at him with beady eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, rubbing the Pokémon's chin. "I'm not supposed to give up. And I can't if I want to find out what's happening with Lyra. It's just…frustrating." The quilava responded with a huff and lied down beside him, head in his lap. He didn't know where to go from here. If he strayed too far away from Azalea, he might not be able to find his way back. Then again, on the other hand, if his search came up with no results, he'd have to deal with Silver's rage, as well as his own guiltiness over the matter.

"Excuse me young man," came a voice from above him. He looked up and saw an elderly lady standing in front of him with a smile on her face. "I couldn't help but overhear that you're looking for someone with knowledge of golbat poison?"

Gold apprehensively nodded. "Yes."

"I may be able to assist you, if you don't mind."

He looked from his quilava to the woman and back at the quilava. Could this really be happening? Could this woman actually have the answers he needed? And why hadn't he run into her before? He decided that this woman was as good as any other in terms of trustworthiness.

"Of course," he replied, standing up. His quilava quickly followed suit. "What can you tell me?"

She scanned the area and leaned into him, whispering, "Follow me." Then she quickly began walking towards the gate that led to the Ilex Forest at a pace that rivaled the speed of sound.

"H-hey wait, lady!" he called out after her as he ran to catch up.

Gold could barely keep up with her as she bounded through the forest like some kind of spirit. If he hadn't known better, he would've thought she was as young as he was. As they approached a tiny house in the middle of the forest, it was then that the old woman's age began to shine through her seemingly young physicality.

"Oooh, my back's giving out," she said in pain as she began rubbing her back. She hobbled up to the house and began fumbling with a key.

Gold looked down at his quilava, who gave him a quizzical look. He frowned at it and said, "Well, what did you want me to do? Leave an old woman alone in the middle of a forest?" The Pokémon grunted. "Oh come on, she's the only lead we've got and I can't sit around hoping for a much younger woman to come along!" Quilava snickered in response. "Whatever. I'm going in—and behave for once, would you?"

Once the lady had opened the door, he followed her inside, much to the chagrin of his quilava. But as soon as he got a look at the place, his hesitation melted away. It was just an ordinary house—a tv played a sitcom, there was a table and kitchenette. A small bed was placed in front of the tv. The only thing that was out of the blue was its location.

"Come in, come in," she said as she motioned for him to sit at her table. She flicked on the lights and pulled out his chair for him.

"Thanks," he said as the woman took her chair across from him. "So…what can you tell me about a golbat bites? Do they attack very often?"

"Well," she said looking down at the ground. "My experience with golbat started way back when I was a child…around your age, actually. My two best friends and I decided to start on an adventure together. We lived in Kanto back then. Our first stop was the Viridian Forest. None of us had ever left home before and we weren't very experienced with our Pokémon, of whom we'd just received. But we carried on regardless. Unfortunately, though, we began our journey at sundown and by the time we reached the forest it was nightfall. I was hesitant about going in, but both of my friends told me there was nothing to be afraid of. None of us knew where we were going, being so inexperienced, so one of my friends, the oldest of us all, decided that we should split up. The first one to find the exit would win."

"And you went along with that?" Gold asked.

"Of course! Challenges are to be accepted! Although I soon learned the error of my ways after we split up. My other friend, who was about the same age as me, and I had no problem finding the exit, albeit after a few hours of stumbling around in the dark. We waited for our older friend to come but…we didn't hear or see anything. It was then that we become worried. We called out his name over and over, but he never responded. But just as I was about to call out his name for the last time, we heard a bloodcurdling scream from just beyond our location. We both ran for the sound and came across our friend, who was being attacked by a golbat. We were able to fight it off, but by that time, it had already hurt him quite badly. The only thing I could see on the ground below him was dark red blood. We rushed him to the Pokecenter in Pewter City and they treated him with anti-venom. But we could all tell that he would never be the same boy. We visited him every day, tried to tell him he'd be all right. But he told us he had strange dreams and hallucinations and that the nurses and Pokémon were out to get him. Soon it became hard for him to even remember who we were. His behaviour escalated so quickly that he physically attacked a nurse, thinking she was trying to kill him when she was only replacing the IV fluid. It was then that the doctors told us that they were going to send him to an intensive care center in the Sevii Islands. We tried to say goodbye to him, but all I could see was the hatred in his eyes."

"You haven't had any contact with him since?"

"No, none. Numerous times, I've tried contacting him; I even travelled to the Sevii Islands myself. But I couldn't find the center or my friend."

"I'm sorry," Gold said solemnly.

"I thank you for your sympathy, young man." She blinked a few times and added. "Oh yes, now why did you need me to tell you that story?"

"Well, I seem to be in the same situation as you were. A good friend of mine, Lyra, was bitten in her shoulder by a golbat in the Slowpoke Well yesterday. Only, unlike your friend, she was directly attacked."

"By whom?"

"An Executive of Team Rocket—Proton, to be exact."

The woman's mouth dropped slightly and her expression hardened.

"Have you heard of them?"

"Yes indeed. In fact, I used to battle against them while I was in Kanto."

"What? You did?" Gold asked in astonishment.

"Yes. After my friend was sent to the Sevii Islands, my other friend and I decided to continue on our adventure. That was when we ran into Team Rocket. It didn't take us long until we met the leader of that group in the flesh."

"You met Giovanni?!"

"We had decided to take the Underground Path to get to Vermilion City, and Giovanni and his goons were waiting for us. We took him on in battle and we won, but just by the skin of our teeth. He vowed that we would feel a world of pain for our insolence. Though, we never heard or ran into him again. Instead, I pursued a career in Coordinating while my friend became the Champion." She sighed happily but quickly returned to her stern expression. "Regardless, I have definitely heard of Team Rocket."

"We wouldn't have thought much of the attack if Team Rocket wasn't involved. But both my friend Silver and I believe there's much more to her bite than meets the eye."

"I'm most certain you're correct, knowing what Team Rocket is capable of. It makes me glad to know that youth these days are still as curious as ever."

"Right now, Silver is talking with Gym Leader Bugsy and asking whether he knows anything about golbat venom. I decided to see if anyone had any prior knowledge about golbat bites. And thank goodness I found you—I mean, you found me."

The old woman laughed. "Lucky you are indeed. I just hope that your friend's condition doesn't turn out like mine did."

Suddenly, Gold's Pokegear went off and he hastily checked it.

"Oh shoot!" Gold yelled. "I was supposed to meet Silver in Azalea so we could pick up Lyra from the Pokecenter!" He stood up and bowed politely. "Thank you very much for everything ma'am."

"Don't mention it. I'm just happy to help. And please, call me Hélène."

"Thanks again, Miss Hélène!" he shouted as he ran out of the house, his quilava in tow.

"And good luck!" she responded, waving him away.

xxXXxx

Hélène stood in her doorway, the smile on her face still there as she watched the young boy run off. As she turned to go back inside, she noticed a flash of purple from the corner of her eye. She noticed a man with purple hair and a matching goatee stealthily following Gold. The red R on his chest was obvious, even from so far away. A gigantic weezing trailed behind him, smoke puffing into the air from its body. The woman smiled and took out an old pokeball from her purse.

"I may be old, but I still haven't lost my spark." She released her raichu, whose cheeks flared with electricity. "Sparky, Thunder," A gigantic lightning bolt came hurtling down from the sky and crashed right into the man's weezing. It collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud. Its owner turned to it in shock, promptly returning it. He scanned the area to see who had attacked him and noticed Hélène, who at this point was just beginning to shut the door and had already returned her raichu. She caught his eye and winked flirtatiously before slamming the door.

**A/N: I'm sorry if all of the uses of friend got confusing, I didn't want to include names. And even though Lyra is like the main character of this fic, she hasn't really gotten the spotlight. But I suppose that'll change in later chapters. It's only been four days since I last updated, but I can't seem to stop writing so I will. :)**


	5. Gold Guns Girls

Chapter 5

Gold Guns Girls

_When Mom and Dad find out, they're gonna flip._

Petrel had _not _expected to be ambushed in the middle of the Ilex Forest while executing his mission. He had _not_ expected his assailant to be a frail old lady, let alone a flirty one. The executive didn't know how to react to her unexpected move. _I have to admit, she's good. _He cringed at the pokeball containing his weezing. He could feel the electricity that her raichu had exuded still clinging to the Pokémon, even as it rested within the ball. He growled under his breath. How was he supposed to return to HQ without any knowledge about that Gold boy's actions? And how was he going to explain how he got bested by a hag and her electric rat? He shook his head in disdain. _This job is not worth the meager paycheck._

Before he had a chance to think about his situation further, his communicator began to ring. He ducked into a nearby bush and answered it. "Executive Petrel here."

"Petrel," He automatically recognized the voice as Proton's. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Have you found out anything about the girl and her friends?"

"I followed the dark haired boy into the Ilex Forest. He was talking with an old woman in her house. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he left just a few minutes ago."

"Hmm…" Proton paused. "And what of the Lyragirl?"

"I did learn that Gold is heading to the Pokecenter in order to meet the red headed boy. They were going to meet up with her after her discharge from the hospital."

"Well at least you got some decent information." Petrel mentally sighed in relief, knowing that he had evaded the wrath of the teal haired Executive. "But because of your failure to gain any knowledge about Lyra's health, I believe it would be in your best interests if you followed them and kept a very close eye on them from now on. You wouldn't want to make my wrath grow now, would you, Petrel?"

Petrel gulped. "Of course Proton. I'll get right on it."

"Do try to stay under the radar. Use one of your disguises if you have to. You're good at that."

Petrel's nervousness melted away at the chance to try out his impressive knack for disguises. He had to admit that working for Team Rocket did come with its perks and transforming into any person on the face of the planet he'd only glanced at in passing was one of them. _Maybe this job is worth the paycheck after all. _He could feel himself smiling to himself as he replied, "Why didn't you suggest that earlier?"

xxXXxx

Gold sat in the waiting room of the hospital, tapping his foot anxiously against the floor. He had been sitting there for twenty minutes now, and there was still no sign of Silver. He sighed and glanced at the clock. Silver had told him to be there early so they could reconvene and share their findings. It was only ten minutes before Lyra was to be released and Gold was getting nervous. How would they be able to talk in privacy while they had Lyra to take care of?

"That guy…what could be keeping him so long?" He muttered to himself.

His quilava shrugged its shoulders and huffed as it slumped down on the floor next to his feet. "He tells me to be here early and where is he? Nowhere to be found. Next time, I'm deciding what we're doing and when we're doing it." It was only a matter of seconds after his mini-rant that his Pokegear went off. He flipped it open and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," the familiar redhead's voice answered.

"What's taking you so long? I've been here for twenty minutes already!"

"I've gotten a bit tied up at the gym. Can you pick up Lyra on your own for me? I can meet you wherever you two end up."

"Well…" Gold racked his brain, trying to think of a place he could take her that could be safe. "I could always bring her to my grandparent's daycare on the other side of the Ilex Forest. They've got an extra room we can stay in."

"Is it easy to find?"

"Oh yeah, it's a big building right before Goldenrod City. You couldn't miss it for the world."

"I'll finish up here soon and then I'll meet you there."

"What time do you think you'll come by?"

"Before you do,"

Gold scoffed. "Really? I doubt that."

"You shouldn't question my abilities."

"Alright, alright. I'll see you then," Gold heard no response as the phone line went dead. He shrugged. "Why does he never say goodbye?"

xxXXxx

Lyra woke up, confused and dazed. The sun was high in the sky outside of her window. She shook her head in an attempt to shake off the—_dream? Nightmare? Hallucination? I don't even know what to call it._ Her mind kept replaying it in order to remember it and attempt to decipher what it really meant. What had Proton meant by her hidden power? Why was there a hat in the Ilex Shrine? And why did she have the dream in the first place? She wanted answers and fast, but she knew a hospital was definitely _not_ the place to get them.

She looked down at her chikorita's pokeball, which she had somehow placed in her lap during the night. She picked it up gingerly and smiled at it. "Hey Chikorita, guess what? We get to go home now! No more needles and no more ugly clothing! Isn't that exciting?"

The tiny creature didn't respond.

"Huh? Chiko, you ok?"

She peered into the pokeball and noticed it was asleep.

"Hmm, you must've been wiped out after that battle. That's ok though. Rest up."

As she set the pokeball down on the table next to her, she noticed that her IV had been taken out and that her normal clothes were lying folded on the table. She smiled at her attire and missed being able to wear it. The grungy gown she was forced to wear within the hospital smelled of mothballs and old people and it wasn't exactly the trendiest outfit in the region. _I'm just glad I'm not wearing this during a Gym Battle._

She reached for the bundle of clothes and began dressing herself, knowing full well that her discharge was only minutes away. As soon as she had finished adjusting the bow on her hat, she heard a faint knock on the door.

"Come in," she said.

Nurse Joy entered the room, with a small grin on her face and a few papers and a clipboard in her arms. "Good morning, Miss Lyra. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad the anti-venom did its job." She approached Lyra and handed her the clipboard. "I'll just need your signature so that we may discharge you."

"Sure thing," She quickly scrawled her name in cursive on the dotted line and handed it back to the nurse.

"Thank you. I assume all of your belongings are just as they were before?"

"Yes, they are. Um, thank you for everything."

The woman laughed lightly. "It's my duty as a nurse to help every person who comes through these doors! Oh and there's a young gentleman waiting for you in the waiting room. It's just down the hallway."

"Alright, thanks again!" Kotone said as she scooped up her bag and left the hospital room.

"Take care," the nurse replied as she waved her off.

When she made her way into the nearly empty waiting room, she immediately noticed Gold, but also spotted an old man talking away at him.

"Gold!" she cried out, waving her arm at him.

He turned and saw her and in seconds was right beside her.

"Thank goodness you're here!" Gold whispered. "That old man wouldn't leave me alone! It was all 'the old war' this and 'back in the day' that. I thought you'd never come!"

"I would've come earlier if I could," Lyra smiled.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He said as motioned for her to follow him.

"I couldn't agree more—I wanna get as far away from here as humanly possible."

The two exited the hospital and began walking through the town. Lyra looked at Gold and realized she had no idea where they were headed. She piped up and asked, "Um, by the way, where are we going?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, we're going to my grandparent's daycare. It's just on the other side of the Ilex Forest. I left some of my Pokémon there for training and I need to pick them up. And my grandparents really want to see me. Does that sound ok?"

"Sure!" she said. "I'd love to meet your grandparents."

"Cool."

"Oh, by the way, where'd Silver go?"

"He went on ahead. He said he could make it there before us in half the time it took us to get there."

Lyra smiled. "Figures. That guy is always in such a hurry."

"Well, we don't have much time to waste here. Let's get going!"

"Wait a minute," she protested. She had remembered that throughout this whole fiasco that she had not once called her mother to tell her what was going on. "I need to call my mom and tell her what's happening."

"Seriously?" Gold said. "How long is this gonna take?"

"I won't take long, I swear!"

"You take forever on the phone!"

"Can I at least leave her a message?" asked Lyra with a pout. She knew he couldn't resist her pouty face. She could see his eyebrows furrow into that familiar expression of defeat as he sighed and said, "Ok, but make it quick. I wanna get there before dark."

"Yeah!" she said as she hugged him. "Thanks, Gold." It was only a few seconds afterwards that she began to flush a bright crimson colour and she immediately pulled away. "Um, I'll go call her now."

"Yeah, yeah, just be quick," the boy replied as he headed towards the building that led to the Ilex Forest.

Lyra quickly dialed her mother's phone number. After a few rings, her familiar voice message played. _"Hello, you've reached Mrs. Soul and my new Trainer of a daughter, Lyra, who is away on the adventure of a lifetime! We're both not available at the moment, but if you leave your name and number, we'll try to get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you, have a great day!"_

She waited a second and said, "Hey Mom, it's me. I'm going to be hanging out with Gold at his grandparent's daycare for the next little while. My adventure is going fine, and I am too, it's just that we both need a bit of a break. I don't know how long we'll stay there for, but you don't have to worry! I love you and I'll talk to you later. Bye!"

She closed the Pokegear and sighed. "I hope Mom doesn't take that the wrong way," She looked down at her Pokémon, who clung to her waist in their respective pokeballs. "Let's get out of here. I've seen enough needles to last me a lifetime!"

The duo headed towards the entrance to the forest, hoping that the next chapter of their journey wouldn't be nearly as painful.

**A/N: Lots of Ilex Forest setting here, as well as three different POV's. It's fun to change perspectives all the time. That's the one thing I don't like about first person stories. This one definitely couldn't be that way. You'd miss out on waaay too many subtleties and plot points. If anyone's noticed it yet, I'm naming all the chapters after ****_Metric_**** songs. This one in particular is named "Gold Guns Girls" because Gold is, well, the character of Gold, Girls is Lyra, and Guns is Petrel (and the force of Team Rocket as a whole). **


	6. Collect Call

Chapter 6

Collect Call

_Why are they trying to burst my bubble?_

Lyra and Gold stealthy walked through the paths of the Ilex Forest, making sure their footsteps made as little noise as possible. The forest had grown dark since they'd arrived and Gold had released his quilava in order for it to illuminate the roads ahead of them.

"Your quilava sure is a great candle," Lyra said with a smile. She was always optimistic, even in very dire circumstances. Of course, their current whereabouts hadn't reached that point yet, but she found herself glancing all over, searching for something that might be keeping their eyes on them.

"Yeah, he's pretty useful, isn't he?" Gold replied, patting the Pokémon on the back. It snorted at its owner indignantly.

"How much farther do you think we have left?"

"Eh, we're not that far from the exit. We should be there in a few minutes."

The girl nodded her head and continued to follow closely behind him. For the middle of the day, the Ilex Forest made it seem like it was midnight. The temperature within the forest was also a few degrees colder than it was outside and Lyra felt herself shiver every once in a while. _I hope we're out of here soon. This place is creeping me out! _She didn't want to tell Gold that she was scared. After all, he had seen her around needles, and that was embarrassing enough. She felt that she needed to prove to him just how strong she was when she wasn't around the pointy death traps.

All of a sudden, she heard a noise from behind her and she gasped in terror. Her arms flew out and grabbed onto Gold, who cried out in surprise. She immediately pulled her arms back and blushed slightly. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked.

"I heard something from over there!" She pointed to the edge of the path, where she thought the source of the noise was coming from.

"C'mon, it was probably just a caterpie or something." He said nonchalantly as he continued walking.

Lyra stood in place, arms folded into her. She needed to know what that noise was before she continued on. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to figure out if there really was a Pokémon hiding in the brush. "Come on out chikorita," she said quietly as she released the creature. It had woken up since they had left the hospital and was now sniffing the air. "Can you smell anything?" Her Pokémon chirped a bit and ran to follow Gold. "Thanks for the help," she scoffed running after it.

Lyra noticed that he had just passed a corner and as she ran to catch up, she noticed the Ilex Shrine to her right. She stopped running and paused, turning to look at the ancient relic. She blinked back astonishment as she thought back to the odd dream she'd had in the hospital. _Maybe I should check inside. _She approached the shrine with caution, examining the unique carvings and inscriptions. As she reached to feel inside it, she felt a tugging at her pant leg. She yelped in surprise, but regained her composure when she saw that it was only her chikorita, looking up at her expectantly.

"Don't do that!" she chastised, picking up the tiny Pokémon. "You'll give me a heart attack."

The chikorita chirped happily, content in being within its owner's arms and Lyra continued down the path in Gold's direction. When they reached the boy, he was standing in the middle of the path, frozen. She began to walk towards him, saying, "Hey Gold—"

The boy turned his head in her direction and whispered, "Shh." He put his index finger to his lips.

Lyra nodded and looked in the direction that Gold was now pointing to. They could both see a dark figure looming within the borders of the forest.

"What do you think it is?" she asked very quietly.

"I don't know," he replied. "But I think its trouble." He took a few steps towards the bush.

"Wait!" Lyra said. "You don't know what's in there!"

Gold said nothing, only motioning to his quilava and saying, "Tackle."

Just as the creature was about to bound into the brush, dozens of black figures leaped out from all around the duo, catching them both off guard. Lyra shrieked in horror as she saw them release multiple Pokémon that in turn, created a barrier surrounding the two. Gold cursed under his breath as he noticed the red R emblazoned on each and every figures breast.

"Team Rocket," he spat.

The grunts all smiled menacingly at the two trainers and some even chuckled darkly. Lyra shuffled over to Gold, who pressed his back against hers. Some of the grunts in front of the pair parted to allow a very tall man to enter. His turquoise hair set him apart from the other standard grunts and his green eyes flitted between the two youths. A golbat hovered close to his shoulder and Lyra could feel chills running up and down her spine.

"Executive Proton," Lyra whispered, trying to prove to herself that he wasn't a mirage.

"Well, well, well," he said, folding his arms. "What do we have here? Two kids out for a stroll? Isn't it a little past your bedtime?"

"What do you want?" Lyra said, surprised at the strength within her voice.

The menacing man's eyes found hers and she squeaked quietly as he smiled at her. "It seems you've become a bit more confident than you were at our last encounter, haven't you, Lyra?" Her eyes widened as he began to stroke his golbat's head. "My golbat here certainly enjoyed meeting you in the flesh."

"You're sick, Proton," Gold said angrily as his quilava stood in front him protectively.

"_Executive _Proton, you little brat," Proton hissed, eyes flaring alongside his temper.

"Gold," Lyra said quietly as she moved to stand beside him. "I wouldn't make him angry if I were you,"

"What a wonderful piece of advice, Lyra," the executive said happily. She shuddered at the sound of her voice on his lips. "You know, I would act on that, kid. You never know what I'm capable of when I'm enraged."

"Fine then, we'll talk like adults," Gold snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"You know as well as I do that Team Rocket is an infamous crime organization. Logic would tell you that we're here to spread our message."

"What's that?"

"That Giovanni will soon rejoin us and take his rightful place as the leader of Team Rocket. Until that day, however, we will do anything and everything in our power to ensure his return."

"Stop speaking in riddles, Proton!" Lyra said angrily, tired of his mind games.

The man smirked and Lyra gasped as she realized just what she had said. "Doesn't that sound familiar, Lyra? I'm sure you've said it to me not so long ago."

Gold looked to her with wide eyes. "What does he mean by that, Lyra?"

"I…don't know…" she said, equally as shocked to know that this man had somehow been aware of his presence in her dream. _But that's not possible! I was unconscious! This is insane!_

"Come now, Lyra. You don't have to lie to me." He began walking towards her and she clutched onto Gold's arm tightly. "Why don't you tell me all about that little dream of yours, hmm?" He extended his arm towards her and motioned for her to follow.

She felt a strange pull in her chest suddenly. It was like an invisible string, tied tightly to her heart. Proton was gently pulling on it, coaxing her to come to him. Her eyes widened as she could feel her feet shuffling slowly towards him.

"Lyra, what are you doing?!" Gold said in shock as he put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to stop her from continuing onwards. His hand felt like fire and she cried out in pain at his touch. "What's wrong?"

"Lyra," Proton said again. "Come."

"Not on my watch!" Gold yelled as he released his aipom. "Let's show this guy what we're made of, Lyra!"

She could feel the string loosen and she sucked in a breath as she stumbled backwards. She nodded her head and set her chikorita down on the ground. "Ok, chikorita, use tackle!" She stared at the little creature that, instead of moving on command, stood paralyzed in front of her. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly as she looked up to notice Proton's golbat staring her down. "What have you done to her?"

Proton chuckled darkly and said, "Golbat, poison fang."

The bat creature went flying straight towards her again and Lyra screamed in terror as the haunting memory of her first attack came rushing into her mind.

"Sneasel, ice beam!" a voice called out.

The golbat went falling to the ground and everyone turned to see a red haired boy with a stare as cold as his Pokémon's attack standing in the gap that was now made between the grunts.

"Silver!" Lyra said happily.

"Perfect timing bud," Gold said.

Silver turned his attention to the executive, who was returning his now defeated golbat to its pokeball. "You Rockets are disgusting. Attacking two trainers with a whole battalion? Where's your sense of equality?"

Proton scoffed. "Whoever said Team Rocket played fair?" He motioned to his grunts who then simultaneously commanded their koffings to use smokescreen. The entire clearing was flooded with the noxious gas and the three trainers began coughing violently. Lyra clutched her abdomen, trying not to vomit. Suddenly she felt warm breath near her ear and heard a voice whisper, "You will learn to come when I command you to." When she turned to meet the face behind the voice, there was nothing.

Soon, the smoke began to clear and the trio scanned the area for the Rockets.

"Where'd they go?" Gold said.

"What weaklings. Running away from a fight they know they'll lose." Silver commented, kicking the ground.

"I think we should get out of here," Lyra said warily. "They might come back."

Both boys nodded in agreement. "My grandparents will be wondering where we are."

"Let's get going," Silver said as he walked down the path, his sneasel hopping alongside him.

Lyra slowly walked behind the two boys and as they reached the exit, she turned to the clearing and sighed, knowing that this was not going to be the last time she would encounter Executive Proton.

**A/N: Screw the rules, I can write! I'm just gonna make everything up concerning the poison. Also, every time I describe Proton's physical appearance, it's always the same. But I suppose no one's physical appearance changes, n'est ce pas? And if you noticed the change in Kotone's name, I changed it to Lyra because it's easier to spell and I think it works better. I've already went ahead and edited all the previous chapters and the summary for continuity.**


	7. Youth without Youth

Chapter 7

Youth without Youth

_Only been fourteen days since I met him; I've been trying thirteen days to forget him._

The trio arrived at the daycare within ten minutes, as all three were not keen on being ambushed by Team Rocket again. Gold's grandparents welcomed them all and helped them set up air mattresses in their spare bedroom. The two workers, however, had to attend to their customer's Pokémon, so within a short amount of time, they curtly left to resume their jobs. That left the three youths to talk about what exactly was behind the villainous team's attack.

"Why do you think Team Rocket's after us all of a sudden?" Gold asked as he sat cross-legged.

"It could be any number of things," Silver said. "They might be after our Pokémon or our money. We might have walked in on one of their underground missions." His gaze shifted towards the only female of the group. "Or maybe they have some unfinished business with Lyra."

The two boys turned to the girl in question, who had been hugging her marill to her chest the entire time she'd been there. She looked up at them and blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It's obvious Proton still has a vendetta against you after you sabotaged his mission at the Slowpoke Well. But what I don't understand is why he's still chasing you. He did defeat you after all, so there's no need for him to want to exact any kind of revenge against you."

Lyra sighed sadly at the red head's blunt explanation of her loss against the Executive. It was true; he had bested her in their battle at the well. But she thought that after his attack on her, he'd be finished harassing her. Now, though, she had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that he was far from done with her.

"What was up with his comments? It seemed like he knew something we didn't," Gold said, scratching his chin.

"Was there something that happened with you two that you're not telling us, Lyra?" Silver asked harshly.

Both boys' eyes were set on her and she felt her grip tightening on her marill. She knew that she had to tell them about her dream at some point, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. _Why are they picking on me?_ She thought. _I was the one who was attacked after all! They should be focused on making Proton pay! _ She could feel anger and confusion bubble up inside her chest as she relived that cruel memory again. Her muscles tightened and she gritted her teeth. "You really want to know?" she said, staring daggers at the ground.

She heard Gold clear his throat and she looked up to stare at him. "Um, Lyra," he said hesitantly. "You're crushing your marill,"

She looked down to her lap and gasped as she saw the tiny mouse Pokémon groping for air within her arms. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized as she released it from her grip. The marill cried out in happiness and flopped onto the ground, huffing and puffing as it inhaled the air hungrily.

"You've been acting a bit odd ever since we left the well." Gold added. "Was there something that Proton said or did that's been bugging you?"

Lyra stared at her marill, who had now recovered from her strangling and was looking up at her expectantly. She hated having to keep such a secret from her friends, knowing that they only wanted to help. But at the same time, she felt that she needed to prove to the two boys that she was strong enough to combat such an organization as Team Rocket on her own. For the majority of her journey, she had run into Gold during crucial moments, like her victory at the Violet City Gym, and he had been able to coach her to victory. She had yet to complete a challenge on her own. In her mind, she wanted to become strong, independent of her friends. But her heart told her that Executive Proton was not just another trainer.

The girl sighed. If she was going to fill them in, she was going to do it her way. "I've been having some…odd dreams ever since I left the Slowpoke Well. One in particular has stuck with me." She quickly ran through the gist of the dream, not wanting to linger on it any longer than she had to and continued, "When we were ambushed by Team Rocket in the Ilex Forest, Proton mentioned something I had said to him during the dream. It scared me to know that somehow, he had learned of what I'd said. How could he have known that?" She turned to face Silver. "Gold didn't know what Proton meant by that, and Silver, you weren't there yet, but I was frozen. I don't know what to do now, knowing how much knowledge he's gained about me. I…"

Lyra stopped her explanation abruptly. She did not want to tell the two that she had felt some kind of string pulling her towards Proton. How was she to explain something as bizarre as that to them? She could barely comprehend it herself, let alone formulate the perfect way to convey it in words. _They wouldn't believe me, even if I was able to think up the right explanation. _Lyra thought sadly._ I guess I'll have to keep it to myself. _She could feel tears beginning to form in her eyes and she knew she couldn't keep talking about her unfortunate encounter any longer.

She didn't give the boys anytime to react to what she had just said before she uttered a quick, "Excuse me," and dashed towards the bedroom. She had no intention of listening to them banter about what could be the cause of her suffering. She noticed her marill struggling to keep up with her as she ran into the room, slamming the door. Her breathing was erratic and her heartbeat was out of control. As soon as the door was secure, she collapsed in on herself and slid down the frame of the door. Sobbing and burying her head in her arms, Lyra let herself go, allowing the emotions she'd buried deep inside of her come out. She could hear her marill shuffle towards her, as if to try and comfort her.

"Marill?" it asked.

"Why did he have to pick me?" she said lifting her head and rubbing the tears off of her cheeks. She stared at the creature, whose gaze never wavered from hers. She closed her eyes and choked back a sob. "Why am I so weak?"

xxXXxx

Once Lyra had run away, Gold left the foyer and entered the kitchen, intent of snacking on a sandwich that had been placed in the fridge. Silver, however, believed this to be the perfect opportunity to speak privately with the dark haired boy. He walked up to him and began pulling him by the arm. Gold started shouting at him, asking what he was doing, but Silver motioned for him to stay quiet. He nodded and followed the red head through the living room and into the backroom of the daycare. Having reached the empty room, he promptly shut the door and locked it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gold asked as he swallowed the bit of sandwich he has managed to chew off before he was pulled away. "I was in the middle of that!" He knew, despite the food-snatching, that when Silver was this agitated, something was running through his mind. Most of the time, it wasn't pleasant.

"I knew it," he said quietly as he walked towards the sole window in the room. He peered through the curtains and nodded his head, not finding any looming threat outside.

"Knew what?" Gold asked.

"You saw how Lyra acted and what she said. There is definitely something left in her system."

"The anti-venom was supposed to—"

"Get rid of it?" Silver interrupted, folding his arms over his chest and snorting. "Yeah, what a great job that did. Did you notice how anxious she was? She almost choked her marill to death."

"Yeah…" Gold said hesitantly, shifting his gaze to his pokeball containing his quilava. "I can't imagine her hurting her Pokémon, let alone choking it so badly."

"Maybe it's not her." Silver suddenly suggested, pacing back and forth.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe there's something in the venom that's causing her to act so irrationally."

Gold blinked, never having considered such an option. "How could Team Rocket engineer venom that could control people's actions?"

"They are Team Rocket after all. They could have some sort of motive behind it."

Silver fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a tin case. He opened it and scanned its contents, counting the four syringes that sat within it. "When I went to talk to Bugsy, he told me that he could do an analysis on the venom and see if it contained any properties unlike that of regular golbat venom. In return, I got these from him." He picked one out gingerly and showed it to Gold.

"Whoa! He gave you needles?" Gold said in surprise.

"Yeah, why?"

The dark haired boy looked down at the ground and shifted his stance slightly. "…Um…no reason…."

Silver scoffed angrily. "I'm not a drug addict."

"If you say so," Gold said with a smile.

The red head decided to ignore the trainer's comment and placed the needle back in its place. "He gave me four of them to collect samples with. The first is for Proton's golbat. The second is for any golbat. And the third is for Lyra. This way he'll be able to compare their genetic makeup and confirm my suspicions."

"What's the fourth one for?"

"An extra, just in case things go awry."

Gold whistled. "That's a tall order you've got there. How are you supposed to get a sample from Proton?"

"I'm going to lure him into a battle with me and give the needle to my sneasel. While it's attacking, it will quickly inject it before it faints. He's fast, so Proton won't even notice what it's doing until it's too late."

"What about Lyra's sample?"

Silver paused. "I was going to take it while she was sleeping."

Gold smiled slowly and the red headed boy raised an eyebrow. "You sick little pervert."

"I am not a pervert!" Silver protested. "How else am I supposed to get it? She goes into shock whenever she sees one of these!" He picked up a different needle and pointed it at Gold menacingly.

The boy raised his arms and said, "Whoa, whoa, I get it, ok! Take a joke, will ya?" Silver lowered the needle and sighed, placing it away carefully. "I understand your approach. Lyra would never consent to getting a needle, even if she knew it could help her. My only question is, how are you gonna sneak in and do it without waking her up?"

Silver smiled slowly at Gold and he could see his friend's face contort in confusion. "That's where you come in."

**A/N: Oh man guys, such a long chapter. There were two additional passages I wanted to add to this chapter, but I feel they work better in the next one, which will be more intense! So much action to look forward to!**


	8. Blindness

Chapter 8

Blindness

_Don't they know I just can't leave him alone?_

Proton gazed at the crying form of Lyra, who was now huddled into a ball within the Daycare Center. He couldn't help but grin at how wonderfully well everything was going. She was alone and vulnerable; practically at the weakest point in her life. Her pesky friends weren't even paying attention to her, let alone cluing into her despair. Her Pokémon were laughably weak and could barely keep up in battle. _This is too easy_, he thought to himself as he noticed her marill attempting to comfort her in her time of grief. He didn't care for the little rodent one bit, but it was a good indication of just how susceptible she could be to him. All he needed to do now was sneak in undetected and she'd be his…

Hearing a muffled noise to his left, he turned his attention to the window of the kitchen and noticed Silver and Gold entering the room. Silver checked the window and Proton quickly ducked behind the bush he was hiding within. Not noticing him, he turned away and began to talk with Gold. He cursed under his breath, knowing now that the duo was not as blind as he believed. Instead, he hypothesized; they were most likely intent on discovering the true motives behind his assault on the petite brunette. Proton couldn't help but laugh to himself. How smart did they think they were, anyways? They had no leads, no evidence and absolutely no clue what—or _who_—they were messing with. He was a sadistic killer when it came to his prey, and if those two boys got in his way, he had no qualms about using any force necessary to silence them.

Having seen enough of the pesky twerps to know that they weren't a threat to his current mission, Proton instead moved his gaze to rest on his belt. He pulled a small bottle from one of the compartments and toyed with it in his palm. The bottle was filled with a dark, viscous liquid that shined in the pale moonlight. It slowly moved from side to side as it sloshed against the sides of the container. That little mixture was all he needed to ensure that his mission went smoothly. The only hitch was delivering it to its petite recipient.

It was then that he noticed the window of Lyra's room was slightly off kilter, the chilly night air slowly filtering into the room. _This must be my lucky day_, Proton thought as he lifted the bottle in the air. Placing it so that it covered the tiny frame of Lyra, he chuckled slightly. The liquid was so thick that not even her silhouette showed through it. Happy with his discovery, he placed the bottle back in its place and stood from his hiding spot.

Before he moved, however, Proton was reminded of an encounter he had had with his fellow executive, Petrel. Prior to his arrival at the Daycare, he had approached him, having returned from his own mission. The purple haired man gave no inclination whether or not his personal job had been completed, but Proton could tell it had gone well from the playful smile he wore. As they stood talking to each other in one of the hallways of their headquarters, Petrel mentioned that he should put on a show during his mission. Proton had scoffed, asked why he needed such a thing when brute force could achieve anything he needed done. But the man had only smiled, stating that a good disguise and a false grin could charm anyone, without arriving at the need for violence. With that, the odd man with the knack for makeup sauntered off, lighting one of his signature cigarettes.

Remembering Petrel's words, Proton smiled at Lyra, who had now stopped her crying temporarily and was gazing at her marill intently. "Change is approaching faster that you'd think, little Lyra," he said. "And once you realize just what's going on, it will be too late." The executive felt himself laughing as he began to approach the building. "Ready or not, here I come."

xxXXxx

Lyra couldn't help but think that she would run out of tears in the near future.

For the past half an hour, it had been a nonstop waterfall of the stuff, pouring down her cheeks and pooling at her feet. If she had wanted to, her marill could've created a powerful water gun attack with the accumulated liquid. Now, though, her eyes were beginning to grow irritated and she rubbed them with her hands.

What was wrong with her? She had gone from being a happy-go-lucky trainer on her first journey as a new trainer to a crying mess of a girl who couldn't even face her friends without breaking down. Her mother had always bragged to her neighbours in New Bark Town that she was the strongest person she had ever met. Of course, she didn't take her seriously, her being her mother after all. But even Gold had let it slip on more than one occasion that he believed she was strong, as well. Where was that strength now?

Blown away, like a leaf in the wind.

There was something wrong with her, she knew. The only problem was finding out what it was.

Suddenly, Lyra heard a noise coming from the window and her head shot up. Her marill cried out to her and she noticed it staring at something. Her eyes widened as she saw a dark figure standing against the window sill, curtains billowing in the wind.

"Who's there?" she asked quietly.

"There's no need to be afraid," said the figure. The voice was eerily familiar to Lyra and she gasped in shock as he lifted his face to meet the light.

"Proton," she said.

He walked towards her with an air of dignity, not stopping to close the window. She attempted to back away from him, but only came to the realization that she was propped against the back of a door and that there was no possible way she could move back. Instead, she stood up and motioned for her marill to stand beside her. It complied and cried out against the Rocket executive.

The man stared down at her marill and frowned. "Do you not believe me?"

"No, not at all!" Lyra protested. "Not after what you did to me!"

She could see Proton's eyes shift as he said, "I only attacked you for your own good."

His words caught her completely off guard and her eyes widened in shock. Was he actually saying that his cruel attack on her had been out of compassion? She couldn't—_wouldn't_—believe that.

"Really? Do you always cause physical harm to those you care about?" she said, folding her arms angrily.

Proton shook his head. "You are an exception. I needed to take more drastic measures."

"Yeah, I'd say so," Lyra scoffed, turning her head away from the green haired man and closing her eyes. "You know what? I've had enough of this. Just leave me alone! I don't need your constant bullying, ok? I'm strong enough on my own!" She was fibbing just a bit on the last part, but every other word she had uttered was the absolute truth.

"You may be strong, but you can become even stronger,"

Lyra opened her eyes and let her mouth hang open as she turned to face Proton. What did he mean by becoming stronger? How could he possibly help her? She was so intensely focused on the many questions swirling in her mind that she didn't notice him approaching her. By the time she caught herself, he was standing only a few feet away from her. She gasped and noticed him staring into her eyes.

"I can help you become stronger, Lyra," he cooed, voice dripping with honey. Lyra became swept up in the sound of his voice and how it sounded when he said her name. There was something about him that caused her to lose herself whenever he was near her. At the Slowpoke Well, she had been unable to move out of the way of his golbat's attack. In the Ilex Forest, she had become paralyzed when he whispered in her ear. This was certainly no exception.

"H-how?" she asked, not knowing why she needed an explanation from the man who had caused her so much pain.

She noticed him reach to his belt, where he pulled out a small bottle of what seemed to be a dark black liquid. Attached to the bottle was a string with a tiny piece of paper. He held out his hand towards her. "All you need to do is drink this and you will gain powers you never even thought were possible," he said softly, a smile edging onto his face.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" she asked warily as her gaze lingered on the bottle.

Proton grasped her hand and she gasped as he placed the bottle in her open palm. "Trust in me Lyra. I only want what's best for you."

Her mouth opened in protest, saying, "But what if I—?"

"Shh," he said, placing a finger on her lips, effectively silencing her. "Everything will happen as it should. You needn't worry." He removed his finger and stood up, turning towards the window.

"Proton…" she whispered as he began walking away from her.

The man turned to look at her before leaving the room and her breath was stolen when he smiled effortlessly and said, "It only takes one drop."

xxXXxx

Silver slowly opened the door to the backroom, motioning for Gold to follow him quietly. They had brainstormed a plan as to how they were going to get Lyra's sample. It had been a good hour since she had run to her room and the duo believed that she had most likely fallen asleep by this time. The two tiptoed through the house and reached the bedroom. Placing his ear against the doorframe, Silver heard no noise from within the room. He nodded to Gold and he opened the door slowly. They both peered in to notice the form of a sleeping Lyra on the bed. She snored softly to herself as she clutched the bedsheets. She seemed to be a lot more peaceful then she was when she was awake. But then again, Silver knew that most people were when they were unconscious.

"Alright," he whispered to Gold, who was holding the case of needles in his hand. "Pass me one of those. You go watch the door."

The boy nodded and followed through with his orders, handing him a syringe and peering through the crack in the door for his grandparents.

Silver got to work on his job, carefully removing the blankets that covered Lyra and clutching one of her arms gingerly. She made no noise at his actions and he sighed quietly, happy at the ease of their mission. Following through with the instructions Bugsy had given him, he squeezed Lyra's arms carefully, watching for her veins to become prominent. Finding one that fit the bill, he used his free arm to slowly place the needle in position.

Just as he put the needle into her skin, the two boys heard a blood curdling scream. Silver turned to look at Lyra, who was the source of the noise. It seemed like she was awake, but her eyes remained closed, as if she were sleep walking. Her arms flailed outwards in a fit of madness, causing Silver to lose his grip on the needle. It fell to the ground and shattered, spilling the blood he had collected onto the ground. He turned to Gold who was equally as shocked.

"We have to get out!" he said, motioning at him to run out of the room.

"But the sample—"

"Forget about it! We have to go, _now!_"

The red head nodded and began to follow Gold out, but not before turning to take one last look at Lyra, who continued her rampant screaming, as if she were possessed.

**A/N: While writing this chapter, I listened to Metric's "Blindness", especially the lyrics 'you gave me a life I never chose. I wanna leave but the world won't let me go. Leave it up to me'. Oh Lyra, crap just keeps happening to you, doesn't it? Well, we'll have to see what the boys will do now after her freak-out. Till the next chappie! (Oh and you should check out my newest story, "Once Upon a Dream", if you want more Lyra / Gold / Silver!)  
**


	9. Satellite Mind

Chapter 9

Satellite Mind

_So tell me what I've gotta do to get this boy's attention_

After Lyra's extreme temper tantrum the previous night, Silver had dragged Gold yet again to the back room, fuming at the loss of their needle. They couldn't afford to try again with her sample, as the only two remaining needles were specifically for the two golbats. How the third one had disappeared, Gold didn't know. But he could only assume that Silver had tried getting a sample from one of their two available guinea pigs and failed to collect anything.

Silver had paced back and forth for what seemed like hours, contemplating how in the world the sweet and innocent Lyra could have ever done something as erratic and crazy as her freak out. They both agreed wholeheartedly that the venom Proton had injected her with was clearly still working its way through her system. Even though she had been treated with the anti-venom at the hospital, there were some stray components keen on making a home out of Lyra's blood stream. At this point, the two boys were becoming a bit frantic, not knowing what could happen to their friend if her symptoms increased. It was then, during the wee hours of the morning that Silver had decided to trek out into the forest and search for a golbat for their sample, knowing that it was one the easiest one to obtain. Gold had been a bit wary about his immediate decision to go out on his own in the middle of the night, but the red head had assured him that he had a battalion of well-trained Pokémon who were ready for anything.

Gold, on the other hand, had decided to hit the hay, not wanting to lose any sleep waiting for him to return. He had only gotten a couple of hours' worth of shut eye before the sun had peeked through the curtains of the bedroom, coaxing him to get up. As he watched the sun rise lazily in the sky, Gold's hopes for a cure sunk.

Even after he emerged from his bedroom, he didn't even attempt to talk with Lyra for fear of another attack. Of course, it was easy to avoid her, as he soon noticed that she hadn't even left her room yet. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to worry about explaining their night to his grandparents, as they had already left the main house to begin their work day.

It was almost ten o' clock in the morning when the only thing on his mind finally emerged, rubbing her eyes and blinking at the dark haired boy.

"Good morning," Lyra said with a yawn. She pulled a chair out from the table Gold was seated at and began to pour herself a bowl of cereal. He felt his arm stop in midair as he was lifting a spoonful of oatmeal to his mouth. She was acting completely normal! How could she eat her cereal so calmly after what had happened?

"Is something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head in worry.

Gold shook his head. "Naw, it's nothing. Just had a bit of a rough night."

She nodded and began eating, adding, "Yeah, I had some weird dreams last night."

_You think?_ Gold thought sarcastically as the two ate in silence. He would occasionally lift his head to see whether or not her normal persona had switched to that of her crazy alter ego, but that did not happen.

They both heard a door open and shifted their gazes to the hallway, where an out-of-breath Silver was now walking towards them. He wiped his brow and huffed in exasperation. His sneasel followed him obediently, taking in the foreign surroundings as they walked.

"What's up?" Gold asked nonchalantly. He knew that Silver had both made a pact with him not to tell Lyra about what they were doing behind the scene. He was also well aware of the fact that the red head was most likely exhausted from tracking down a golbat to take a sample of. He turned to Lyra and noticed her staring at him. He could only hope that their secret could stay hidden.

Silver shrugged in response to Gold's question, swiping the cereal from in front of him and shoving his hand in the box, completely ignoring the clean bowl that was in front of him.

"Hey, that's my gramps' food, you dork," Gold chastised. Silver ignored his complaint and instead turned to look at Lyra.

"Where have you been?" she asked happily.

Gold swallowed, unsure of whether Silver would have an adequate response to her question without looking suspicious.

"Training," he replied simply. His sneasel nodded its head in approval as it tried to reach the box of cereal.

"Oh," Lyra said. Gold could tell that she had assumed he would have a more interesting response to her question. But he was thankful for Silver's demeanor, because it seemed completely in his character to randomly leave to train.

"We have to leave," Silver said suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence.

Lyra almost choked on her food. "W-what?"

"You heard me," he said. "It's not safe here. Team Rocket knows where we are and we need to keep hidden if we're going to avoid them."

"But how are you sure that they know we're here?" she commented, her voice becoming increasingly agitated.

Gold could tell that something had happened last night apart from her freak out. Why would she be so concerned about leaving for her own safety if someone hadn't convinced her otherwise? Maybe it was the remnants of the venom still in her system. He looked down at his quilava, who was resting underneath the table. Its head perked up when he glanced at it and it made a noise that implied his confusion at the situation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Silver said. "If they found you in the Ilex Forest, they're bound to find you here. It isn't the greatest distance away from the forest in the first place."

"Here we have the protection of Gold's grandparents!" Lyra protested.

"Does it look like they're in the position to fight off a battalion of Rockets? Get real, Lyra."

Her face became hot with rage and Gold was afraid she was going to burst. "Here we have the chance to get stronger!" she yelled passionately.

Silver stood up from his chair, slamming his hands on the table. "We don't need strength, Lyra!"

At that comment, her mouth hung open, no words escaping her lips. It seemed to Gold as if that sentence had struck a chord within her. Was strength the thing she wanted most? He knew that she was strong, could hold her own in battle. But did she believe that she hadn't fit the bill yet? That there was something out there that could change her? He didn't know what to think, but he noticed Lyra close her eyes and then open them slowly.

"I need some air," she said solemnly. Her gaze wandered to Silver and Gold sucked in a breath at the intensity in her eyes. "If you don't mind." she added her voice stinging like venom.

Silver didn't flinch. Taking his cynicism as a yes, she stood up and headed towards the door, slamming it loudly behind her.

There was a short silence that proceeded her exit. Gold sighed and said, "You sure have a way with the ladies."

Silver ignored his sarcastic whit and ran from the table in a hurry.

"Hey! I meant it sarcastically!" Gold yelled after him as he dashed from his seat to catch up with him. When he did, he noticed the red head peering out of the front window stealthily. "What are you doing?" he asked, trying to see just what had peeked his interest. He noticed Lyra walking towards the shoreline, not looking back towards the building.

"That's all the proof I need," Silver said.

Gold blinked, not expecting such a statement from him. "What do you mean?"

"Did you see the way she was arguing with me? That's not Lyra at all. She would've been all sunshine and rainbows about this whole thing, would even agree with me that moving was the right thing to do. But she acted like avoiding Team Rocket was the worst thing we could do. It has to be that venom! It's the only explanation."

"I agree. The only problem is, how will we get her to come with us if she hates the idea of leaving?"

Silver sighed. "That I don't have an answer to quite yet. The only answer I have right now is to head as far away from here as we can."

"Which is?"

"Mahogany Town."

Gold blinked. "Really? Wouldn't it be Cianwood?"

"We want something remote, but close enough so that when Bugsy gets back to me about our samples, we can meet up with him. It's easier to cross over land than it is a sea."

His statement about Bugsy reminded Gold of their undercover mission. "Were you able to get the golbat sample?"

Silver reached into his pocket and pulled out a needle filled with dark red blood. "Took me a couple of hours, but I finally managed to get it."

Gold smiled. "Way to go man! That only leaves two more."

Silver nodded and returned his gaze to Lyra, who was now sitting at the water's edge. "Yeah, but the question is, how are we going to get to Proton without endangering Lyra?"

xxXXxx

Once Lyra knew that Silver and Gold's gazes were fixated elsewhere, she hightailed it to the nearest bush and quickly hid herself from view. Peering back in the direction of the Daycare, the boys still hadn't returned to their peeping and she smiled. She returned her ditto, who had taken her form so that she could eavesdrop on the two without being spotted. It had worked flawlessly, and she was able to learn exactly where they were intending on taking her. Now she could do what she'd been waiting all morning for.

After Proton had left her room the previous night, Lyra had quickly stashed the bottle of liquid under her pillow, just in case someone came into her room and happened to notice it. From there, she fell into a deep sleep, dreaming in the process.

_She was standing in front of a crystalline lake, wearing a flowing midnight-black dress that billowed in the warm breeze. Her eyes wandered over the glassy lake, taking in the serene setting. Suddenly, she sensed a presence behind her and she turned around to notice Proton, who was gazing at her intently. He was wearing a full tuxedo and a red tie. She felt her heart flutter as he approached her._

_"Proton," she said as he stopped just a few feet away from her. "What are you doing here?"_

_He smiled at her and her breathing stopped, like it did when she had seen him in her room. Only this time, his smile wasn't as sleazy. It was more…complex than that. It almost seemed like there was a hint of happiness behind it that made Lyra feel that he wasn't there to harass her like he usually did._

_"How are you?" he asked. _

_He's asking how I am. This is so strange! He's never been anything but mean to me. Well, lately, anyways. She thought to herself as she tried to come up with a suitable response._

_"Um, I'm fine, I guess," she said. She didn't really know why she chose such an answer when she'd been through so much pain as of late. But judging by the way he looked at her, however, he somehow compelled her to respond with a cheery answer._

_He stared out at the lake and stopped beside her. "You are beginning to understand just how powerful you are," he said. "It is only a matter of time until you reach your maxim."_

_Lyra stared at him. "You said that the bottle you gave me could make me stronger. Is that really true?"_

_The executive met her eyes. "Of course. Do you still not believe me? You must have faith in me if you are ever to attain what you truly want."_

_She suddenly felt something in her hand and she opened it to see the bottle she had just mentioned. She gasped as he stepped closer to her._

_"You still have my instructions. Do as I say and everything will be as it should."_

_Lyra was about to say something, but was stopped when she noticed the sky turning black and the waters of the lake churning. "What's going on?" she said confusedly._

_Proton had noticed the strange turn of events as well and he looked at her, anger sparking in his eyes._

_"You must tell me where you are," he told her, grasping her shoulders tightly. He did not hold her as if he intended to hurt her—instead is seemed as if he was holding on to her in order to show the seriousness of his statement. "I can't protect you if you don't."_

_"Why?" she asked, becoming confused at his words. "What do I need protection from?" _

_"There are those that want to use your power for their own. So long as you are within their midst, you will never be truly safe."_

_Lyra blinked. "Who am I with that could hurt me?"_

_"The ones closes to you are the ones who can harm you the most,"_

_"I don't understand!"_

_Proton began to back away from her and she became frantic as an eerie mist started to surround them._

_"Say what it means, Proton," she pleaded. "Tell me!" He vanished within the mist just as she felt tears pricking her eyes. She felt a rush of cold air and she turned to see a gigantic wave making its way towards her. She screamed as it toppled onto her, sending her body floating through the icy cold waters. Her mouth flooded with the salty taste of the sea as the dress she was wearing began to weigh her movements down. Her body felt like a ton of bricks as she began to drown._

That was the last thing she felt before she had shot up in bed, gasping for air. She had clutched her throat, making sure that she was still breathing normally. That was worse than the golbat dream. It had felt real. Almost too real. Soon she had decided exactly what that dream was trying to tell her and as she began to fold back the covers of her bed, she stared at the image of herself in the mirror.

She knew what she had to do.

**A/N: On a roll guys, on a roll. This is where the plot gets thicker! And I get to write more in the Rocket's perspective. Fun stuff. Has anyone noticed that Silver acts a lot like Haku from Spirited Away? At least in the beginning of the film that is. :P**


	10. Front Row

Chapter 10

Front Row

_Now I'm in trouble from the text message I sent him_

It took the trio longer than they had hoped to leave the Daycare Centre. After two hours of searching the house for anything that belonged to them, the three decided that they had packed every single item they had brought with them. Gold hugged his grandparent's goodbye and with a wave, the trainer set off into the afternoon sun, expecting a smooth ride to the sleepy hamlet that was Mahogany Town. Lyra flew on her pidgeotto, with Gold riding alongside her and Silver hanging onto his murkrow. She found it odd that he could hold onto only one of the bird's claws, dangling like a rag doll, and not become tired of maintaining the same position. But she also supposed that he was used to such difficult training with his Pokémon and that he was accustomed to this.

Lyra looked down and noticed Gold's arms around her waist. She had never been so close to him since they had met in New Bark Town and she could feel a slight blush creep up onto her cheeks as she thought about how his arms held her. They didn't grab onto her like a vice-grip. Instead, it felt soft and comforting, like he wanted to keep her close as they soared thousands of miles in the air. She smiled, feeling a bit of happiness warm her heart. _I haven't felt like this in weeks,_ she thought to herself as she glanced over the clouds. _I wish I could just bury the past and continue feeling this way._

At the same time, however, Proton's words echoed in her mind. "_There are those that want to use your power for their own. So long as you are within their midst, you will never be truly safe"._ What could he have meant by that? She hadn't really taken his warning seriously, having been told such a thing through a dream, of all things. _Maybe I should keep my eyes out for anyone suspicious while we're here. Mahogany Town is known to be a hiding place for ninjas._

As she began to think back on the dream she had had the night before, she couldn't help but remember the way the teal-haired executive had gripped her shoulders. It had seemed real, like he genuinely cared for her safety. His eyes did not bore into her like they usually did. Instead, they seemed to plead with her, even begging for her to tell him where she was. When she thought about it, his touch was something incomparable with Gold's.

She shook her head. _What am I talking about? Proton's never _physically_ touched me before! And just because it felt real when I was asleep doesn't mean I should consider it that way. _She didn't have much time to dwell on that fact because soon they all noticed a few buildings clustered together with small, ant-like people milling around.

"There it is!" Lyra called out over the wind. She could see Silver point towards a clearing just beyond the town's borders.

"Guess we're landing over there," Gold said to her and she nodded, commanding her pidgeotto to slowly descend.

As they landed on a small patch of grass near the edge of a small body of water, Silver returned his murkrow and released his sneasel, which began sniffing at the air.

"What's it doing?" Lyra asked as the small creature poked its nose over the terrain in front of them.

"He's trying to track Team Rocket's scent," he replied. The sneasel, not finding anything that resembled the black-clad thugs, made a satisfied grunt and returned to Silver's side. "He says it's alright."

"Ok, let's set up shop!" Gold said as he hopped off of Lyra's pidgeotto and began walking towards the town.

"Hold up Gold," Silver said as he stuck out his arm, whacking the boy right in the head.

"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his temple.

"I just want to make sure it's safe—"

"Oh come on!" Lyra said, smiling as she jumped off of her Pokémon's back. "If your sneasel said it's safe, it's safe! You've become so worried lately that you've become paranoid." She walked past the two boys and stopped just outside the town's limits. She turned and placed her hands on her hips. "Well? Are you two going to find me a place to rest my head or what?"

xxXXxx

The group managed to rent a room inside an elderly lady's house and took a few hours to take a power nap (of which the two boys of the group so desperately needed). Gold, prior to his nap, had continued to stare at the woman who allowed them to stay, inspecting every inch of her house, much to the annoyance of his friends. When he was questioned about it, he claimed he just wanted to ensure the legitimacy of their temporary residence. In reality, however, he was surprised by the striking similarity the lady shared with Hélène, the kindly old woman who had shared a surprisingly interesting tale of her days as a trainer. She had faced Team Rocket and their nefarious boss, Giovanni, had gotten herself lost in the Viridian Forest and become a famous Pokémon Coordinator (whatever that was). But the most intriguing thing about her was the fact that one of her good friends had been attacked by a golbat. She had given him as much information as she could, and the young trainer could see that she deeply regretted the loss of her friend's sanity as he spiralled out of control. Gold actually wanted to travel to the Sevii Islands where she said her friend was sent to and attempt to find out just what happened to the elder's companion. But he knew where his priorities were at the moment.

_With my own friends. I need to make sure she's back to normal before I search for someone who might not exist anymore._

Although this woman was much more reserved and much less active, Gold couldn't help but wonder what Hélène was doing at the moment. Was she recovering from her back injury that she had caused herself when she ran at lightning speeds to her forest house? Had she ever spared a thought for him as he tried to unravel the mystery behind Lyra's sudden ailment? It all seemed like too much to think about.

"Gold? Hello? Hey, are you ok?"

Lyra's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed her standing over him. Apparently, he was sitting, legs crossed, arms in his lap, deep in thought.

"You look like a monk or something!" she laughed.

"Sorry about that…" he said, putting his arm behind his head. "I was just zoning out."

"You dope." She added as she twisted his hat around. "Come on. Silver wants to go to the Lake of Rage."

"Why?" he asked, adjusting his cap and standing up.

"For more scouting," she explained, rolling her eyes.

The two left the house and followed Silver through the wooded area that lay behind the sleepy town. The trio passed numerous wild Pokémon—and annoying trainers itching for a battle—before finally making it to the lake's shoreline. The lake was peaceful and serene, almost like a picture from a postcard. The sun was just beginning to set, causing the lake to reflect vibrant tones of orange, red and blue across its glassy surface. Gold smiled.

"Yeah, this place sure looks threatening to me, Silver." He joked. "I'm sure Team Rocket's enjoying the sun and sand almost as much as I am."

Silver ignored him, instead looking down at his sneasel. "I'm going to search the area. You two stay close. Call me if you see anything suspicious."

With that, the insular boy walked off, his Pokémon in tow.

"I agree with you Lyra, he is paranoid." Gold said with a smirk as soon as the red head was out of earshot. He turned his attention to the brunette. "So, what do you wanna do, Lyra? We could go swimming, do some training…"

"I'd like to explore the forest, if you don't mind," she said.

He blinked. "Are you going to search the perimeter for enemies, like crazy-boy over there?"

She grinned. "No way! I just want to see what kinds of Pokémon there are here. I've never been this far north, so I want to see what I can discover."

Gold nodded in approval. It seemed to him like the old Lyra was coming back. She was happy, energetic and even poking fun at the two. It was as if the past couple of weeks had never occurred and that the three of them were just continuing their journeys as usual. It made him happy to know that she could be so happy. It was a welcome change from the cold and detached attitude she had harboured back at the Daycare Centre. Perhaps it was the change in environment that was having such a positive effect on her. _Maybe it's like those commercials on TV for those nasal sprays made with sea water. People who live close to salt water never get sick. _He could only assume that the latter was true, having never lived by a sea. He wasn't even sure if the Lake of Rage was made of salt water, but he didn't want to dwell on something as fickle as that. _If it makes her smile, that's all I can ask for._

He flicked his nose and grinned. "Why don't we have a contest? Whoever finds the rarest Pokémon gets to sleep on the futon!"

Lyra smirked and said, "Sure! But I'll totally kick your butt!" She raced off towards the treeline, not waiting for Gold.

"Oh no, you won't!" he called after her. He followed the petite brunette with a speed he didn't know was possible.

xxXXxx

Lyra slowed her pace, allowing her racing heartbeat to take a breather. She was very far from their starting line, she could tell. The woods around her were completely foreign to her. She peered through the foliage to notice the lake only steps away. She couldn't see where Gold had gone off to, and Silver hadn't returned from his perusal of the area. She huffed, not accustomed to sudden sprints. Crouching down next to a large oak tree, she sighed, exhausted. She didn't want to pretend to be so happy-go-lucky around him, but it was the only way that he would trust her enough to let her wander out on her own. _And besides_, she thought, _he can never resist a challenge!_

Her eyes wandered and she groaned in frustration. She didn't know what she was doing. Now that she was alone, she had no one to tell her what to do. It was an odd circumstance, given the events that had taken place over the past several weeks.

It was then that it dawned on her. _The instructions! _She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the vial of dark liquid that Proton had given her. It remained unchanged, even with the increased movement it received when she was flying on her pidgeotto. The tiny message was still attached with a red string, tempting her to read what was scrawled within it. She took in a deep breath.

She unfolded the parchment and began to read:

_My dearest Lyra,_

_There are those among you who wish to corrupt you, make you into something you are not. Their intentions are cruel and destructive. If they succeed in morphing you into their puppet, you will lose yourself forever. I am doing everything in my power to stop them from doing so. I have followed them, thwarted their attempts to steal you away, but you've somehow been caught in their trap. I've done all I could at this point—and I can't do it alone any longer. I need you to tell me where you are. Below this message is a phone number. I want you to call it and tell me your location. After that, you must drink the contents of the vial. Do not worry about what will happen afterwards; I have ensured that you and your Pokemon will not be harmed. When you open your eyes, you will see my face, smiling back at you. You will be safe and among those whom you can trust. I look forward to seeing you in less trying situations, where we can talk as equals, not enemies._

_I believe in you, Lyra._

_Yours, _

_Proton_

She gasped at the neat and perfect handwriting that was effortlessly scrawled on the paper. She blinked back her astonishment at his words. "My dearest Lyra", "I believe in you" and especially "yours" seemed to strike a chord within her. It was like her heart skipped a beat with every syllable. The way he wrote her name was extremely beautiful. He looped the y around in a slanted oval and carried the line so that it created a sort of net for the rest of her name. It was like he was meant to be her protector.

Her eyes scanned over the page twice, three times, re-reading the carefully penned letters that stained the stark-white parchment. She knew now that what she had intended on doing from the minute she left the Daycare Centre was not for nothing. In fact, it would help her attain what she desired the most. The thing that Proton knew would protect her from the ones who sought her destruction.

Strength.

She pulled out her Pokegear and typed in the number that was below Proton's signature. As she lifted the machine to her ear, she heard nothing as a dial tone indicated that a message was being recorded.

"I'm at the Lake of Rage, in the forest near the western corner of the shoreline. I'm alone." She paused, not knowing whether she should add anything else. "Please hurry." She hung up, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering away.

Lyra then turned her attention to the vial that now sat in her lap. Picking up the bottle gingerly, she opened the lid and inhaled. It seemed to smell sweet, like that of fresh strawberries. She also noticed a hint of something bitter, like a strong herb. She lowered the bottle, feeling a tad nauseous at the intoxicating aroma.

"Come on Lyra, you can do this," she said to herself. "It's fine; you're a big girl now. You've been on your own for a couple of months now and nothing's stopped you yet. Sure, there's been a few bumps in the road but if you want to be…" She paused, temporarily unable to utter the word Silver had denied. "…stronger, you'll need to swallow your pride—and this stuff."

She closed her eyes and tipped the bottle upwards. She hesitated once again as her lips hit the rim.

_"It only takes one drop,"_ she heard Proton's voice remind her in her head. She nodded her head. She had decided what needed to be done. She couldn't give up on him when he had already given her so much.

She tipped the bottle again and the liquid came tumbling into her mouth. It tasted horrible at first, like she was downing a whole bottle of over-the-counter cold medication. But after she had swallowed it, she tasted sweetness on her lips. The only thing that she could think of that could remotely describe what she tasted was honey, thick and golden, dancing on her taste buds. She sucked in a breath and she sighed contently, happy to be done with it.

Just as she began to relax against the trunk of the tree, Lyra felt one of her pokeballs shaking on her hip. She lowered the bottle and looked to her belt. She immediately recognized it as the one holding her chikorita.

"Hmm?" she whispered as she unclipped it. The grass Pokémon sprung out of the ball and chirped. However, the usually chipper creature was swaying from side to side, its eyes half-closed. It seemed as if it were caught in between the boundaries of reality and dreaming. "Chikorita, are you ok?" As it heard the sound of its name, its eyes flashed open. Lyra gasped as she noticed that its irises were a dark purple colour, contrary to their normal red tone. "What's happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

"Chikorita…" it said slowly, its voice a deep and monotonous sound.

"Oh my gosh…" she whispered as she watched her precious starter Pokémon continue its zombie-like chant. "What should I do?"

She glanced down at Proton's letter, which was now lying on the ground. Her eyes stumbled across a specific passage:

_Do not worry about what will happen afterwards; I have ensured that you and your Pokémon will not be harmed._

She glanced back at her chikorita, which had ceased its chanting as was now wobbling back and forth.

"Chiko!" she cried out as she extended her arms to catch the falling creature. She was too slow however, and it landed with a soft thud on the grass in front of her. As she kept her gaze on the tiny creature, whose breaths were now tiny and precise, she kept retelling herself the same exact sentence over and over, trying to calm her growing fears.

_Do not worry about what will happen afterwards; I have ensured that you and your Pokémon will not be harmed._

"He wouldn't hurt me," she said as she began to stare at her own hands. "He wouldn't hurt me," Her hands were shaking violently and she closed her eyes tightly. "He wouldn't hurt me!" As she opened her eyes, she felt the world spinning around her, like she was caught on a merry-go-round that would never stop turning. "He believes in me…" Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she felt her body collapsing underneath her.

"Proton…" she whispered as she began to fall deeper and deeper into a dark hole, with no end in sight.

xxXXxx

Lyra's body lay on the ground, her petite body now unmoving and sprawled in a helpless position. A dark figure approached her, calmly and coolly. He scanned the area. Sure enough, she was alone, save her chikorita, which was, like its master, unconscious. Beside the girl's form, he noticed the bottle she had just drunk from. He bent to pick it up and examined its contents. Not a single drop of the concoction was left within the confines of the bottle. He placed the vial in his pocket and returned his attention to the task at hand. He plucked the only empty pokeball from Lyra's belt and returned her chikorita. Placing it back in its original spot, he then fixated his gaze on Lyra herself. She was like an angel when she was asleep; her hair formed a sort of halo around her heart-shaped face. Her brows furrowed together in an expression that was torn between confusion and a sort of peaceful bliss. Her mouth hung open slightly and curved upwards in one corner. A single drop of venom lingered on her lips. He bent down and removed his glove, using his index finger to wipe it from her mouth. Lifting the drop to his own lips, he licked it off, slowly and methodically, taking in the bitter taste and the sweet remnants of the substance that came after. This didn't taste nearly as good as her blood had back in the Slowpoke Well.

He replaced his glove and extended his arms towards her, gently scooped her up off the ground. He carried her and as he turned, he couldn't help but take in the way she laid motionless in his arms. To him, it seemed almost as if she were his bride. As the man began to walk away, a soft moan emitted from the brunette's lips. As lifted his gaze from the form of the girl who was now his marionette, he smiled. It was a truly wicked and cruel thing that played on his lips. His grin was the only thing that gave away his true emotions. The scariest and cruelest man known to Team Rocket was sickening pleased with the prize in which he had won.

**A/N: Type heavy chapter this time around! It's seven pages long and filled with over 3,000 words! That's a record for this story. I think it needed it though. So much crap went down! I told you it would happen. Ok, so no real Team Rocket POV's this round, but they will come sooner than you think! The letter thing wasn't actually supposed to written but it is so awesome I knew I needed to put it in there. I don't know when I'll have the next chappie up. I usually keep within my dates (hallelujah!), but this one might be early, as I've written a good chunk of it already. We shall see. **


	11. Twilight Galaxy

Chapter 11

Twilight Galaxy

_But we're stuck together like they are up in the seven_

Ariana walked down the halls of the headquarters, her high heels clicking with a staccato-like sound. Her hands stayed on her hips, swaying with her movements. Her eyes locked onto the familiar surroundings and glared at anyone who passed her. Her fellow Rockets could always tell when she was approaching because of the sound her shoes made and she kind of liked it. It caused the weaker grunts to nod their heads and walk away quietly. The seasoned veterans of the group would always stop, bow and sometimes greet her with a curt, "Good day, Executive." It made the red head's body fill with power as she took in their lowly forms. Only a few years ago, she was in there shoes, looking up to a much different person with a much different agenda. But since those dreary days, she had come a long way and sacrificed almost everything she had held dear to her in order to be where she was presently. Now, every fibre of her being knew that her struggle was worth it. And did it ever feel good.

She turned a corner and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as a black figure blocked her path. A look of annoyance flashed across the executive's face as she shifted her weight onto her right leg. Knowing that it was probably a new recruit who had so carelessly gotten in her way, she began tapping her foot angrily. She took in the form of the person that had so rudely broken her measured steps.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her voice icy and unwavering.

Ariana had no qualms about punishing the pathetic imbecile who had had the gall to run into her. She lowered her free arm to her belt and began fingering her arbok's pokeball. The snake Pokémon was known throughout Team Rocket as her powerhouse and her secret weapon. She always waited until he opponent believed that they had the upper hand before sending it out. Every time she did, she would command it to use toxic, forcing the opponent's creature to slowly dwindle away before her eyes. While her enemy was distracted, she would then physically attack their Pokémon, saving only a tiny bit of health left in order to see its life ebb away from it. Once it was out of the way, she would finish off the trainer with her own personal coup de grace; a poison kiss. No one ever saw it coming and by the time they realized it, they were dead. That _was_ how she became known as Team Rocket's "Black Widow".

One of Ariana's eyebrows perked up as the figure turned around. Purple irises stared back at her and the man's face curved upwards into a signature grin. "Petrel,"

"Why, I didn't see you there," he said with fake surprise as he lifted his arms behind his head. "You should watch where you're going, or you might run into someone."

Ariana rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "What do you want?"

Her fellow executive snickered. "My dear Ariana, can't a man just chat with his fellow comrade?"

"You never come for chit-chat, Petrel. There's always something more,"

"How right you are, my sweet," he said with a laugh. "Now that you've found me out, I might as well be frank with you. I wouldn't want to see your arbok take a bite out of me by accident."

She glanced down at her pokeball and pulled her hand away. Returning her gaze to the man she sneered, "Spit it out."

Petrel leaned against the wall. "What a hurry we're in today. You know as well as I do that our mission has hit its critical stage. However, there is still much to be done. You remember that red headed kid that tags along with his goody-two-shoes friends?"

"Silver?" Ariana responded, thinking back to the sombre boy with hair almost as red as hers.

"Indeed. Archer has just informed me that he is to be our next target."

The woman blinked. "Oh? And why would he need him?"

"You know how Archer is with details—you only learn the basics until the job is done. Regardless, I have been assigned to this mission and I've come to ask for your assistance."

She stared at the goateed man and scoffed. "Why do you need my help? You're a big boy now; clean up your own messes." She turned to leave, but Petrel was clearly not done with her yet, as he slid in front of her and placed his hand on the wall, blocking her path yet again.

"Ah, but it's not that simple," he explained, wagging his index finger back and forth. "You see, I can do this with my eyes closed. I could slip into any old costume and snatch the brat up, lickety split. But you know me better than that."

Ariana rolled her eyes. "Of course I do."

"You know that I always enjoy putting on a good show. So I want you to be my supporting actress."

"And what am I to do?"

Petrel fished through his utility belt and pulled out his trademark makeup kit. He held it out to her as he began picking up brushes and containers. "All I need you to do is dress the part and do a little acting. I'll help you get into character; it shouldn't be that hard to do." He examined a blush brush, holding it close to his face. "You've got the attitude down pat." He replaced the brush and began rummaging through it. "Besides, the person you'll be portraying is quite familiar to you."

"Let me guess," she interjected. "I'll be playing you?"

The man's smile widened as he snapped the lid to the kit shut. "Someone even better,"

xxXXxx

Silver had only just finished his patrol of the area when he heard a scraping noise beside him. He glanced down to see his sneasel clawing at the bark of a nearby tree.

"What is it?" he asked, a confused look on his face.

The creature turned its head and pointed into the distance. Silver cocked his head to the side and looked in the direction of its pointing. What lie in front of him was the clearing in which the three trainers had split up. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but by the way his Pokémon was acting, he could tell something wasn't right. "What could it be?" he said as he began walking towards it, intent on taking a closer look around.

All of a sudden, his Pokegear went off. Grunting in anger, he struggled to find it. After locating it in his back pocket, he said, "Who is it?"

"Hey, Silver, have you seen Lyra?" the familiar voice of Gold said into his ear. "I can't find her anywhere."

"What?" the red head responded, his anger only flaring at his friends question. "You let her go out on her own?"

"I didn't know she'd get lost!" the boy answered. "She was acting so nice that I thought she was back to normal."

Silver swore under his breath. "You're an idiot, Gold. There's no way Lyra can be back to normal! You know as well as I do that the venom is still in her." He sighed. "I can't believe you let her go!"

"Take it easy, man!" Gold said. "I'm sure she couldn't have gotten that far."

The red head took a deep breath in and rubbed his temples. "Alright. Where did you see her last?"

"I think she was headed towards the western shoreline. We were supposed to have a catching contest. She must have thought there was some rare Pokémon there."

"Look, you stay put. I'll head over and meet you there." He scanned the area around him and added, "If you see any Rockets around, beat them into the ground."

"Sure thing, bud," Gold said. "I'm near the—"

"_Aaah!_"

Silver heard a sudden scream come from the clearing in front of him. "I'll call you later," he said abruptly as he hung up, not waiting to hear the end of his friend's sentence. He quickly began running towards the sound, which was getting louder with every passing second. The voice was very high pitched, definitely female. His heart began to race faster as he quickened his pace.

"Help me, please!"

Before he reached the clearing, he ducked behind a bush. He peered through the foliage to see none other than Lyra, who was being dragged by the wrist by Executive Proton. They seemed to be headed in the direction of Mahogany Town. He could tell that she was in pain, as she was wincing with every step he took.

"Be quiet!" the man said angrily as he tugged harder on the girl's arm. She cried out in pain. As they slowly continued their march, Lyra kept her gaze fixated on Proton. When he turned his gaze, she began moving her free arm to her waist.

_She must be trying to reach her Pokémon! _Silver thought as he watched her hand make contact with one of her pokeballs.

Unfortunately for her, though, Proton had anticipated such a move, and he quickly swatted Lyra's arm away, sending the pokeball sailing through the air. It landed only inches away from where Silver was hiding. Lyra gasped as he took hold of both her arms, effectively pinning them behind her. With her back now to the teal-haired executive, he leaned his head towards her ear and said, "If you don't stop squirming, be aware that I will use any force necessary to make you complacent." He released his golbat, which hovered in front of Lyra menacingly. She gasped in fright as it glowered at her.

"Please, Proton," she pleaded. "I'll do anything you want! Just don't hurt me!"

Silver could hear the venom in Proton's voice as he said, "Hurt you? I only want to help you." He smiled and made his head level with hers. "It only takes one little bite…"

"Proton…Stop…!" she gasped as the bat flew only inches away from her face. The man did nothing but smile as his hold on her grew tighter and his bat opened its mouth, ready for the kill.

Silver knew that he had no time left to spy on the two and he burst from his hiding spot. With only two objectives in mind, he motioned for his sneasel to come out. "Sneasel, use fury swipes!" The Pokémon attacked the golbat from behind, scratching deep into its flesh. The bat cried out in pain as it fell to the ground. Proton turned his attention to the now defeated golbat and growled. He let go of one of Lyra's arms in order to return it. Silver knew he could use this as the perfect opportunity. Sneasel, use ice beam!" The icy spray froze Proton's arm in place and he yelled in pain as he clutched his now freezing cold hand. Lyra fell to the ground, now free of his grasp and she ran towards him.

"Silver!" she called out, coming to hide behind his back. The two gazed at Proton, who was now glowering angrily at the red head.

"You'll pay for that," he said, malice dripping from his voice. Using his non-frozen hand, he released his koffing, which used smokescreen. A lazy black fog covered the area and the two trainers coughed violently until it began to clear. By that time, however, the teal-haired executive was nowhere to be found.

"Oh Silver!" Lyra said happily as she clung to his shoulder. "I was so worried!"

Silver glanced down at his sneasel, who glanced up at him expectantly. Nodding his head, he turned his attention to the brunette. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, looking around the clearing. "I was almost a goner!"

"Do you know where Proton might have run off to?" he asked, suddenly pulling her arms off of his shoulder. "We need to find out where he is now if we want to have a chance at stopping him."

She closed her eyes and choked on a sob, saying, "No, I have no clue…He just came out of nowhere and then grabbed me and—"

Silver cursed to himself. Of course she wouldn't have a clue as to where he would go! It was foolish of him to even think she would know. He scanned the area for any trace of where the teal haired executive might have run off to. "Listen, we're going to have to lure him back here before he gets too far away," he concluded.

"What? But why?" Lyra asked worriedly.

"This way I'll be able to catch Proton while his guard's down," Silver turned his attention away from her and began fumbling with his PokeGear. He flipped to the regional map and began searching it for any caves or warehouses that Proton might have holed up in. Not seeing any other clear getaway then the forest behind the Lake of Rage (which seemed to house a few scattered cottages), he nodded to himself, knowing that if he had only run away temporarily in order to gather reinforcements—or attempt to steal Lyra back again—he was bound to be there.

"No," Lyra said, a sudden malice creeping into her voice.

"What?" Silver said confusedly. He turned to see her staring at the ground, her cap casting a shadow over her eyes.

"I don't think you'll catch him." she said as she stepped towards him. When she was only inches away from him, she caressed his cheek tenderly. Silver stared at her, not knowing what to make of her sudden change in moods. Without a warning, he suddenly felt her lips on his. His eyes widened as he stood, paralyzed, unsure of what to do. He noticed that she had closed her eyes and he took the opportunity to look down at his sneasel. He motioned for it to hide in the bushes as he slowly closed his eyes.

When she pulled away, he looked her in the eyes, which were gazing intently at him. It was then he noticed that her irises were not their usual chocolate brown, but instead, they were a blood red colour. Silver's eyes widened as everything came tumbling down on him like an avalanche.

_No way, this can't be—_

"Ariana?" he said in shock. Silver was unable to say anything else as he felt his body begin to convulse uncontrollably. He tried to regain control over his movements, but his head was beginning to cloud over and his eyes began to shut. He could feel himself slipping away as he watched her smile widen. His body fell limply towards the ground, now unmoving and still. The petite brunette Silver thought was his friend caught him in mid-air. A deep laugh resonated within the clearing as "Lyra" ripped off her face to reveal that of a young woman with deep red hair. She lifted a finger to his face, her finger tracing his cheekbones. Her red nails left behind a scarlet trail of blood in its wake. She smiled as she watched it flow down his face and drop to the ground silently.

"But I might catch you instead."

**A/N: So I didn't update it early, like I thought I would. But I'm still on schedule, so it's all good. I had intended to have Petrel acting as Lyra, but I think that this way worked out better in the end. (Although it would have been hilarious to watch xD). What do you think? **


	12. Dreams So Real

Chapter 12

Dreams So Real

_I was once a good girl, now I've gone bad._

Black.

Blackness was everywhere.

Lyra couldn't see anything but the inky colour as her consciousness slowly began to regenerate itself. She felt like she had been out for years, she was so groggy and tired. But then again, she knew that she had just taken the vial of liquid on the shoreline of the Lake of Rage. Somehow she had ended up in a vortex of blackness because of it? No, that couldn't be right. He'd said that she would be fine and that he would be there when she woke up. But was she even awake yet? The only thing she could confirm was the fact she wasn't dead.

At least not yet, that was.

She heard herself groan a little as she felt the blood in her body rush through her veins. The feeling reminded her of the sensation she felt when she had slept on a limb funny. The blood would rush into her system again as she would attempt to move her seemingly dead body part. That was what she was experiencing at this moment. Only it was in every single inch and fibre of her being.

_I can't stay like this forever,_ she thought to herself. _There's only one way to figure out if you're truly dead or not. If you see him—_she paused mid-thought, her breath hitching at the mere mention of the word—_then you know you're alright. _

Taking control of her body, she moved her left arm and then her right one, testing them to see whether or not they were mobile yet. It was easier than she thought it would be, so she began to wiggle her feet and legs. Everything seemed to be in tip-top shape. _Ok, here it goes! _In one short movement of her eyelids, a tsunami of light flooded her eyes and she blinked several times. Grunting at the very unwelcoming greeting, she shielded her eyes with her arm, which made things a bit more bearable. As she finally began to adjust to the unusually bright light, she took in an image that made her heart pound uncontrollably.

Teal eyes gazed into hers and a warm smile greeted her. _Now this is what I'm talking about!_ She thought happily as she noticed a gloved hand extending towards her. Figuring that she had properly adjusted to the room's brightness, she lowered her arm from her face and took the man's hand, smiling at him. She had never felt so happy in her entire lifetime! Just glimpsing his handsome figure made her want to swoon.

"Lyra," Proton said. The brunette could die in this very instant and be satisfied with her life. She smiled back at him. "Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded her head a few times, making sure to go slowly, just in case her head wasn't quite up to speed.

"That's good," he said, his voice velvety and smooth. "Can you get up on your own?"

She glanced downwards and remembered she was still lying down on whatever surface she happened to be on. Wanting to prove herself to him, she gripped his hand as a safety precaution as she used her free arm to prop herself up. Now in a sitting position, she swivelled her body to the edge of the table (which she had previously been unconscious on) and hopped off. Smiling with pride, she looked up at Proton, whose hand never let go of hers and whose eyes seemed to be smiling.

Lyra began glancing around the room, taking in her new surroundings. It seemed to be a small hospital room, minus the medical gear and tacky curtains. The walls were a dull beige colour and the table that she had jumped off of was tall and made of stainless steel. She hadn't remembered it being uncomfortable to lie on, which was a good thing, considering all of the aches and pains she may have had to experience after hopping off of it. In addition to the table, there were a few chairs and a desk, which housed a state-of-the-art computer. Other than that, it was a very barren room.

"What is this place?" she asked curiously.

"It's a testing room," Proton replied curtly. "We experiment on newly designed inventions here."

"Oh," she said.

The executive began to lead her out of the room and into a narrow hallway. She didn't fight him, instead wanting to go wherever he wanted to take her. There was no one to be seen and it felt odd to be alone with Proton in what seemed to be a very big building. Eventually, the duo reached the end of a hallway and he opened the door for her. She hesitantly walked in and gasped in surprise as she took in a beautifully decorated bedroom.

It was everything Lyra could have ever dreamed for. A four poster bed adorned with deep scarlet sheets sat in the middle of the room, covered with a black canopy that draped around the bed like a net. A grand vanity stood against the wall, covered in various makeups and perfumes. There was an open door on the right hand side of the bed and Lyra craned her neck in order to see what lay inside. What seemed to be a lavishly decorated bathroom lay within, fully equipped with a tub, shower, sink and large mirror. She had never seen such luxuries before!

Lyra turned to Proton and smiled. "Whose room is this? They must be very lucky if they get to live in a place like this!"

"It's yours," he replied, leaning against the doorframe nonchalantly. She squeaked in joy as she ran to each focal point within the room, from examining the perfume bottles, to jumping onto the bed. Suddenly though, she felt quite odd. How could she act so childish in front of such a serious and wonderful man as Proton? Realizing her mistake, she quickly bolted upright from the bed and stood up, bowing her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, Executive Proton," she said politely. "It's just that I…" she glanced around once more, not ready to stop her exploring. "I've never seen anything like this before."

The man approached her and touched her cheek, making Lyra blush at his sudden intimate gesture. "Don't worry," he said, circling his finger slowly. "That has nothing to do with your purpose."

"My purpose?" she asked, surprised that he was not offended by her actions.

"Yes," he reiterated, bringing his other hand to her face as well. "Your purpose is the pursuit of strength."

Lyra gasped as he mentioned the word he had said to her on that fateful night. The one thing she knew she couldn't live without. The one thing that would make her better than anyone else. She suddenly gripped his shoulders tightly and stared at him with pleading eyes. "Help me, Proton. Make me become stronger! Please!"

He smiled and lifted his hands away from her face. Turning his head to the side, he said, "All in due time, my dear. For now, just become accustomed to your new surroundings."

As the man continued to stare in the other direction, Lyra asked the question that had been eating away at her since she had woken up: "What is this place, Proton?"

He turned towards her, a smile on his face as he replied, "Your home."

xxXXxx

Gold was in deep trouble.

Not only had he lost track of Lyra, but now, Silver was missing as well! How could he have done both of those things in the span of only an hour? It was fairly easy to remember how he had misplaced Lyra, what with his spur-of-the-moment idea to begin a catching contest with her. Add onto that the fact that he had let her run off alone without his supervision. Altogether, this was the perfect recipe for her disappearance. There was no denying his idiocy concerning that decision.

But Silver? He was the one person in their trio that kept them focused, made sure things were running smoothly. He never missed a beat and was serious every single second of his life. And now he was missing too. The fact that he had quickly hung up the Pokegear was worrying him. Did he get caught up in a battle somewhere? Had he seen Lyra and rushed off to find her? There were so many possibilities and it gave him a headache just thinking about them. At this point, he had become exasperated with combing through the shorelines of the Lake of Rage. There was no sight of either of his friends and the sun was beginning to set.

"How in the world am I going to get myself out of this mess?" he said to himself as he buried his face in his hands. His quilava looked up at him and cocked its head. "First I lost Lyra and now Silver's missing too! There has to be some kind of explanation…" Lifting his hands away from his face, he glanced downwards at the ground. What he didn't expect to see was a Pokegear lying only a few feet away from him.

"Wait a minute that looks like…" Gold said reached over and picked up the device. "Oh my gosh it's Silver's Pokegear!" He flipped it open and scanned the list of recent calls. Sure enough, Gold's number was the most recent call it had recieved. "Score!" he yelled as he shot up in the air, a clenched fist raised high in the air. His quilava merely rolled its eyes at its owner's, disinterested in the boy's blatant enthusiasm. "The only problem is how the heck am I supposed to reach him if he doesn't have this on him?"

Suddenly, it began ringing and Gold shouted in surprise, nearly dropping the device before hesitantly answering. "Um, hello?" he said.

"Hey, Silver. It's me, Bugsy," said a boy's voice. "I'm calling to discuss my analysis on those blood samples you gave me."

Gold sighed. "Sorry, but this isn't Silver. I'm his friend, Gold."

The gym leader gasped slightly and said, "If you're not Silver, then why do you have his Pokegear?"

"That's a long story," Gold replied. "But I can explain everything later."

"Do you happen to know where he is?"

"It seems like he's disappeared into thin air. His Pokegear is the only clue I have as to what happened to him."

Bugsy sighed in frustration. "Silver warned me that this might happen. But I never thought it would actually come true."

The trainer's eyes furrowed. "Say what? He knew this would happen?"

"He told me that there were people that would kill him for what he was doing and that he needed to ensure that my research remained top secret. I haven't told anyone about it. Well, except you now."

"That sneaky little ginger," Gold smirked. He was happy to know that the red head had taken precautions with their undercover mission, but he was still worried about his safety; especially since he had mentioned that people would kill him if they knew what he was up to. "Anyhow, what did you find out?"

"Well that's the problem. I've analyzed the samples of the normal golbat's venom and that was, as you can guess, normal. But I've found something quite odd about Lyra's."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the bus," Gold said suddenly. "How did you get a sample of Lyra's blood?"

"Silver sent it to me yesterday. He has a very unorthodox way of giving me things." Bugsy laughed. "I never expected a sneasel to be waiting outside my window in the dead of the night with a needle full of blood in its claws!"

Gold tried to figure out just how Silver could have gotten Lyra's sample. They had completely botched their first attempt back at his grandparent's daycare, having completely shattered the needle in the process. He hadn't informed him of a second attempt at the task, not even bothering to talk about their underground mission during their time away from the Daycare. So how could he have done it…?

"The spare!" Gold cried out as he snapped his fingers. That was the only possible way! They hadn't used it yet and Silver had only taken one other needle to take the sample of the regular golbat. The only possibility for him to take the sample was when they were at the elderly lady's house in Mahogany Town. They had all taken a nap then and Lyra would have expected him to take a sample. It all made perfect sense now! How could he have forgotten about that?

"Pardon me?" Bugsy asked.

"Sorry about that," Gold apologized, feeling slightly embarrassed at his comment. "So you said there's something odd about Lyra's blood?"

"Yes. I've never seen anything like it before. But I think I can explain it better to you in person. Are you anywhere near Azalea Town?"

"I'm at the Lake of Rage right now, but I'm sure I can get there by tomorrow."

"Perfect," the gym leader said. "Oh and before I forget, do you happen to have the sample for Proton's golbat? I will need to compare the genetic makeups of the two golbats in order to further my analysis."

"Yeah, about that…" Gold said, putting his arm behind his head. "I don't have any of the needles on me." As he began to think of a way he could retrieve the case of needles, he noticed a black figure darting through the trees in front of him. He stood up and said, "Hold on a second." Lowering the Pokegear from his ear, he stealthily moved towards the brush, wanting to know what was spying on his conversation. Suddenly, the figure leapt out from beneath a bush and stopped two inches from Gold's feet. He yelled in surprise as he took in the form of a sneasel, who glared at him menacingly. "Holy crap! Don't do that!" he chastised as he began to calm down. He knew that there was only one person who owned a sneasel so stealthy.

"What? Is something wrong?" he heard Bugsy say.

Gold put the Pokegear back to his ear and replied, "Everything's alright. I just got startled by Silver's sneasel."

"It's very good at that," the gym leader responded with a laugh. "But if you said Silver wasn't around, what is his sneasel doing here?"

"I don't know," Gold answered as he bent down to his knees in order to reach the Pokémon's level. "But if he's out of his pokeball, then Silver must have a plan for him." He glanced down at the creature's claws, which held a tiny needle filled with a dark red fluid. "And I think I know what it is."

**A/N: Oh my gosh guys, last chapter had seven reviews! SEVEN! That's a record for this story. Pat yourselves on the back! It made me very excited to check my email and see like eight different review notifications. In terms of Lyra's POV, it was funny to read because I didn't write that she'd felt a change in her personality. I just had to write what Lyra was feeling and that was happiness. :P The description of Lyra's new room reminded me of the room that Christine Daae has in the Phantom's labyrinth of the movie adaptation of ****_The Phantom of the Opera_****. Sans the swan motif and the wax doll though xD. **

**Things only get crazier from here! What will happen to Lyra now that she's under Team Rocket's thumb? Where have they taken Silver? And what will Gold do now that he's found Silver's sneasel? So many questions, so little chappies! (Actually that's a lie, I wanna say this will be at least twenty chappies, but we'll see.)**


	13. Synthetica

Chapter 13

Synthetica

_I know you're dangerous, magnetic hazardous_

Proton sat at his desk, scribbling away on a pad of paper and trying to finish his report on time. He had been so busy training and working with Lyra that he had let his paperwork get behind. He was never like this; he was always punctual with his work. No one seemed to notice, however, as they were too interested in his new test subject to see the stacks of papers that seemed to create a castle around him.

It had only been a matter of hours since the brunette had joined their ranks, but it was like her entire being had changed almost completely. The venom had somehow transformed her petite and childish frame into that of a fully grown woman. Technically speaking, she was still the same age (Proton guessed around seventeen or so), but even the way she acted would fool anyone into thinking she was at least in her mid-twenties. That made his strange fascination with her all the more grounded; Proton couldn't bear to think that he could be entranced by a mere child.

When he looked at her, though, he couldn't help but feel something foreign to him—what was it? Lust? Love? He couldn't agree with the latter but the former had a better chance of describing how he felt. What was so particular to Proton was that Lyra was extremely devoted to him. Whenever he gave a command, she heeded it without question. She harboured the deepest respect for him (which was odd, considering how much she had feared him during their previous encounters). He didn't have to act as much anymore, although he continued to have a wonderful time making her slip into his gloved grasp, using her as his own personal marionette.

In any case, Proton had to hand it to Archer for inventing such a powerful toxin. Could he even call it a toxin anymore? In his eyes, it seemed more like a remedy than an ailment. When he had given her the tiny vial of venom at the Daycare Center, he honestly didn't know whether or not a single drop of the venom would change her. His uncertainty was for naught, as she had drunk the whole thing. She didn't even leave any trace of the viscous liquid behind. It was fortunate enough for him; that meant he didn't have to force it down her tiny throat.

Proton looked up from his desk as he heard a faint knock on the door. He knew that if the knock wasn't loud, it was a grunt asking for something. He sighed and dropped his pen, rubbing his wrist in an attempt to ease his cramping muscles. "What is it?" he called out.

The door opened to reveal a young man, whose eyes never left the ground. "Executive Archer would like to speak with you."

Proton cursed and glanced over his paperwork once more. If he was going to ask about his progress, then he was in deep trouble. Rolling his eyes, he stood up from his desk and said, "Tell him I'm coming."

The grunt nodded curtly and went off to find the insular blue-haired man. Not wanting to continue his work, the executive decided that he would rather take Archer's harsh words rather than risk straining his wrist even further. Leaving his desk in the cluttered state it was in, he closed the door and made his way to the interim head's office.

Once he reached it, he knocked twice before hearing a faint, "Come in." Proton sucked in a breath, preparing for the inevitable confrontation that would soon occur.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few lamps creating pockets of light here and there. A desk sat near the back of the room and housed a few stacks of neatly arranged papers. A filing cabinet was in the far corner of the room and a coat rack stood beside him. _If only I was this organized,_ Proton thought to himself. Archer was sitting in his chair, which was turned away from Proton. Closing the door quietly, the teal haired man walked closer to the desk and stood silently, awaiting the man's words.

"Well done, Proton," the man said.

Proton blinked. He was…congratulating him? Even when his paperwork was almost overdue? There had to be some kind of ulterior motive to the meeting then just discussing business. "Pardon, sir?"

He turned around in his chair and Proton noticed a small smile on Archer's face. It only confirmed the fact that this meeting was not about his inferior work, but of something much more exhilarating. "On your work with Lyra. I must say, I never imagined that a girl like her could become such a wonderful asset."

The executive grinned slightly. "Well, it's no hassle telling her what to do. She acts as if she was born into Team Rocket."

"Indeed," Archer sighed. He stood up from his chair and turned his back to him, staring at the wall instead. "She is more perfect than the original design."

Proton raised an eyebrow at the interim head. "What do you mean?"

Archer remained unmoving as he said, "At first, I had hoped for your golbat to bite the red-headed boy, Silver,"

"Why did you want that kid?"

"You may not have noticed this, but he is the son of Giovanni."

Proton's mouth hung open. "_What?_"

Archer continued to speak, as if he didn't notice the teal-haired executive's stunned expression. "I knew that he was journeying through Azalea Town at the time and knew I had only to wait until he caught wind of your mission at the Slowpoke Well. Then I would take the time to strike when the iron was hot. Unfortunately, my plan went a bit awry, and instead of him coming alone, it was Lyra. I was pleasantly surprised, though, when you returned to Headquarters, bragging about your victory against her. From that point, I only had to make minor modifications to the schematics."

"What kind of modifications?"

The man did not answer, instead raising his arms in front of him. "If Silver were to join Team Rocket, think of how easy it would be to bring our leader back from his training. Father and son, ruling the entire region with an iron fist. Is there no better ploy than your own flesh and blood taking over the organization you built from the ground up in your stead?"

Proton had to agree with the man. They had been searching time and again for their famed leader, but no lead seemed to take them to him. _But if Archer had wanted Silver, then why didn't he just kidnap him in the first place? _"If you wanted him, why didn't you just take him?" he asked, attempting to put his restless thoughts at ease.

"That is where the procedure changes slightly. Like I mentioned before, your golbat attacked Lyra, as she was the first one to the well," He sighed slightly. "I should have known that, if he is anything like his father, he wouldn't have run into the well without taking the proper precautions. Regardless, Lyra will prove to be a very excellent pawn in our little game."

"What do you intend to use her for?" Proton asked.

"We cannot continue our missions with her little friends constantly undermining our plans. This way, we will be able to use her to achieve our goals as a sort of mole, if you will. No one will suspect a little girl of murder."

Proton laughed. "I wouldn't say she's little anymore."

Archer smiled at his remark. "Your observations are indeed correct. However, our test subject seems to be more…attached to you, than me. It seems I created a flaw in the genetic composition of the venom."

"You made it so that she would be under the control of one person, huh,"

"Originally, yes. But because you have interacted with her far more than I, the properties of the venom must have registered with you. No matter. You are certainly capable of moulding her."

"Mould her, sir?" Proton asked, confusion creeping into his voice.

Archer turned his attention to his desk, where he pressed a button underneath it. The wall to his right began to move and eventually turned opaque. Through it, Proton could see into Lyra's room. He walked over to the unorthodox mirror and touched it. Inside, he could see Lyra sleeping on her bed.

"Use this mirror to watch her," the blue haired executive commanded. "I have placed another one behind her vanity and her bathroom mirror. Ensure that she adheres to the regiments of medicine that you will give her. You must administer them to her while she sleeps, lest our secret will be revealed."

"I can only assume what that stuff does to her," Proton said with a smile as he gazed on her sleeping form. Proton could see that there was an IV inserted into her left arm, which was continually pumping the same purple fluid that he had given her into her veins.

"Control is a powerful tool, Proton. I would do anything to see Giovanni back in his place as our rightful leader. If I have to play dirty in order to get what I want, well…" He laughed, a slightly cruel and callous thing and added, "That _is _what he built Team Rocket on, now isn't it?"

Proton turned to face the executive, who was now returning to his spot at his desk. He could tell that their meeting was over, but he wanted to keep staring at Lyra, who looked so peaceful in her dreaming state.

"That is all," Archer concluded as he returned the mirror to its original form. Proton blinked slightly at the odd transformation, but began to leave, feeling both confused and excited at his new mission. Before he opened the door, however, he heard Archer add, "Oh, and Proton?"

"Yes?" the teal haired man replied, turning his head towards the man.

"When Lyra wakes up, tell her that I wish to see her."

xxXXxx

Gold ran through the forests of the Lake of Rage, trying to keep up with Silver's sneasel, who was jumping from tree to tree. It had refused to give up the needle filled with blood, much to his chagrin, but it had proved itself a worthy protector of the vial, as it was able to numbly climb through trees while balancing it in its claws. They had just made it to the clearing in front of the lake when Gold began to slow down.

"Wait a second!" he called out as he began huffing and puffing in exhaustion. The sneasel stopped its jumping and came to stand in front of him. It gave him a look of annoyance, as if his inability to keep up was irritating him. "You know I'm not…as fast as you…" It only rolled its eyes and began to walk back to the tree in which he had hopped off of, intent on continuing their run. "Oh come on! The world isn't going to end if I take a quick breather."

To his surprise, the sneasel stopped dead in its tracks. Gold furrowed his brows and realized that he had not stopped for him. Rather, he noticed that the Pokémon's gaze was directed towards its right. He turned his head and noticed a tall figure standing at the lake's edge. He pursed his lips, not knowing whether it was a friend or a foe. Fingering his quilava's pokeball, he stood up and said, "What are you doing here?" He watched as the figure slowly turned to stare at him. Gold couldn't get a good look at him, due to the setting sun's rays creating a blinding light around the man's figure.

"Are you the trainer they call Gold?" he asked.

Gold swallowed, not knowing whether this man was a heaven sent or a ticket to trouble. "Depends on who's asking."

The stranger began walking towards him and Gold took a step back, clipping a pokeball off of his belt and readying it, just in case. The man stopped, noticing his movement. "I mean you no harm, I assure you."

"That's what they all say," the dark haired boy responded. "Well, they don't word it like that, but still."

"I don't want things to escalate," the stranger continued, avoiding Gold's question. "I only wish to speak with you."

"The time for talk has passed, buddy," Gold said. "Now it's time I figure out who you really are." He released his quilava, which growled at the man. Silver's sneasel, however, just continued staring ahead of him, not even moving to attack. Shrugging his shoulders, he added,"And let me tell you, I won't go easy on you."

The man sighed. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but…" He himself pulled out a pokeball, playing with it in his palm. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." He dropped the pokeball to the ground and released a majestic looking dragon. It glared down on Gold with a serious expression on its face. "Dragonite, use—"

"Hold on a minute!" Gold yelled as he shot his arm out into the air. The stranger paused mid-command and gave the boy a confused look. The trainer was anything but confused as everything fell into place. The dragon, the formal speech, the raw power he exuded—it all made sense now.

"You're Champion Lance, aren't you?" he asked, his index finger pointing forwards. The man in question nodded his head slightly.

"I'm sorry for startling you," Lance apologized as he began patting his dragonite. "I had hoped you would recognize me, but I hadn't intended on using the sun as a shield."

"No worries man," Gold laughed, putting a hand behind his head. "We weren't gonna beat you too badly, huh quilava?" He looked down on the Pokémon, who now had its eyes closed. It snorted haughtily at its master's stupidity.

"Your quilava doesn't seem to believe you," the Champion mentioned as he turned his attention to the lake.

"Naw, he's just kidding with me, aren't you, buddy?" The quilava only snorted again as it began staring at Lance.

"Are you aware of the strange happenings around this lake?" the red head asked.

Gold's head cocked to the side slightly at the man's inquest. "No, I haven't."

"People have reported sightings of rampant gyrados swimming in the lake. The number of magikarp has been dwindling and the ferocity of the gyrados is extreme when compared to their natural state. It has never happened before, and it has the townspeople worried, as am I." He turned back towards Gold, his red eyes flaring like a fire. His gaze didn't waver too long, as it instead moved to Silver's sneasel. "This one wasn't afraid of me. Somehow, it knew I wasn't an enemy." He knelt down to the ground and extended a hand towards the Pokémon.

"Um, I wouldn't get too close to it…" Gold warned. "It's known to be very temperamental, just like its owner."

Lance nodded, but continued to reach its hand out towards it. The sneasel cautiously approached the dragon tamer, shocking Gold in the process. It eventually reached the man and set the needle into his palm.

"What!" the trainer yelled in surprise.

"So this is what you were hiding," Lance said with a smile. He examined the needle and looked back at Gold.

"It's not what you think, I swear!" he responded, waving his arms in the air like a madman. He didn't want the League Champion thinking that he was a murderer or something! Somehow, though, the man understood the circumstances and was not nearly as freaked out as Gold had expected.

"Sneasel tells me that a dear friend of yours was attacked by a man from Team Rocket," Lance explained as he rubbed the sneasel head affectionately. "And that this needle might be the key to helping her."

"Wait, he told you all that?" Gold asked.

The Champion stood up and nodded his head. "Believe it or not, I have a very unique gift…" He quickly whipped his head to the side and his expression hardened. "…that will have to be explained at a later time. Sneasel tells me that you need to get to Azalea Town, correct?"

"Yeah as soon as possible. I need to get that sample to Gym Leader Bugsy."

Gold followed Lance's movements as he began to mount his dragonite. "We don't have much time. Come on, I'll give you a lift." The dark haired trainer smiled, returning his quilava to its pokeball. He was about to jump on the giant dragonite when they both heard a squeaking from behind them. They both turned to see a tiny marill bouncing towards them.

"Huh?" Gold said as it reached the two. It puffed in exhaustion.

"Do you know this Pokémon?" Lance asked.

The marill continued to squeak at the men, acting like a lunatic. It was only a few seconds until Gold recognized the mousy creature. "You're Lyra's marill, aren't you?" It cried out in joy as it jumped into his lap, a huge grin on its face. "But what are you doing here?"

"No time for an interrogation, Gold," Lance replied. "For now, we have to start flying, or we'll never make it there in time."

With that, the dragon tamer commanded his beast to fly into the air, heading into the sunset towards what Gold hoped to be the first step in saving his friend.

**A/N: And of course, when I mention how many reviews I got last time, half of my regulars disappear. :P I was just going through my notes for this story and realized just how many plot points I have for this story. I know I keep mentioning how many chapters this will end up being, but I'm sure it will be more than my other ones. That will make this the longest story I've ever written! (Only counting chappies, not words.) also, Lance always seems to be introduced at the Lake of Rage in my stories. Well except for "Once Upon A Dream".  
**


	14. Stadium Love

Chapter 14

Stadium Love

_It's rushing through me like fire in my veins_

Lyra hid beneath the foliage of the bush, peering through the leaves at the house that stood only a few meters away from her. It looked cozy enough for a cottage situated in the middle of a dense forest. Smoke billowed out from chimney and lazily travelled through the air. She scoffed. Who would ever live in such a place like this? There were no neighbours, no sunlight and certainly no shopping malls. But she supposed that there were some pros to the location. There was the privacy, quiet atmosphere and relative safety of the forest that could serve a valuable purpose. Rolling her eyes at her thoughts, she huffed loudly.

"Come on Lyra, get a grip. It's just a tiny old cottage in a stupid old forest. Do what you came here for!" she urged herself.

Jumping out of the bushes, she somersaulted to the side of the house and peered into the window. Although the curtains were draw, she could see a faint light coming from inside. She smiled. "You think you're so sneaky," she laughed. "Wait and see who comes knocking!" She crouched on her hands and knees and reached the front door. Jiggling the door knob slightly, she learned that it was locked. Having prepared for such an event, she reached into her belt, which held a lock pick. After she successfully unlocked the door, she burst into the house, yelling "Put your hands up where I can see them!"

To her surprise, there was no one in the house. Not a living soul looked back at her. An eyebrow rose slightly as she took in the surroundings. A candle flickered on the dining table. The TV was playing a romantic comedy on a low volume. She scoffed, not impressed by the destitute scene. Slamming the door behind her she returned to her spot in the bush and began dialing a number on her Pokegear.

"Executive Archer," said the stern voice on the other side.

"Archer, it's me," she said, trying her best to contain her anger.

"Ah, Lyra," he said, his voice lightening up just a tad. "How is your mission coming along?"

"Well, about that…" She began trailing off as her gaze fixated itself on the tiny house. "You see sir, she wasn't there." There was a slight pause on the other end. "Sir?"

"What a pleasant surprise," he replied, no anger looming in his voice. Lyra was taken aback. She was expecting him to come down on her with all of the rage of the world, yelling about what a failure she was. But to her shock and dismay, he was…happy? "She is keener then I took her for. Very well. Lyra?"

"Yes sir?"

"Change your coordinates to that of Mahogany Town. I will have someone pick you up."

"Yes, of course."

The man hung up and Lyra stared at the phone, not knowing what to make of the conversation. She stood up and brushed off the leaves that clung to her outfit. "Well, a job's a job. The sooner I get out of this creepy forest, the better I'll feel."

xxXXxx

Silver awoke to the sound of heels clicking on the floor. As his eyes drifted open, he found himself being carried down what seemed to be a brightly lit corridor. He tried to figure out what had just happened, where he was and what he should do next. Where had he just been? It was all coming back to him. That's right; he was at the Lake of Rage, searching for Lyra. And then he had found her, only, it wasn't her it was—

—the woman who was carrying him in her arms right now.

He gasped in horror as he attempted to weasel his way out of her grip. He heard her laugh at his attempts and he looked up at her. Red eyes bore into his and red lips smiled at him like he was a her play thing.

"Good morning, Silver," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Let go of me!" he yelled, continuing his struggle against her.

"Oh don't bother sweetheart," she replied. "We're almost there."

He paused for a second, not knowing what she meant. He soon learned, however, as they reached the end of the corridor. A black door was in front of them, cold and unwelcoming. Ariana let him down, making sure to keep a tight grip on his wrist as she unlocked the door. Silver peered in and looked at his surroundings. A bed was in the left corner, blood red sheets adorning its surface. A shelf full of books was across from it, as well as a clock. The only things that was housed on the right side of the room was a dresser and a mirror.

"What is this?" he asked quietly.

"Why, it's you're new room," answered Ariana.

"My new what?"

She didn't reply as she closed the door behind him, sealing off any chances at escaping. She began to walk around the room, towing Silver along with him. "It's quite nice, isn't it? I never had anything like this when I was your age."

"Oh?" said the boy. "What did you have?"

She turned around to face him and the iciness in her eyes sent shivers up and down his spine. "The company of darkness and the things that lurk in its shadowy paws. You know nothing of hardship, my sweet. No…" She looked away temporarily, letting her grip on his wrist go. Silver rubbed his wrist, feeling the pain begin to seep into his muscles. "I envy you, Silver. Everything you have, everything that will be yours." she sighed lightly. "I only wish you could see it with your own eyes."

The red headed boy said nothing as he watched her stop moving around. She smiled at him. "I'm sorry to have been so rough with you. It's only that things escalated so quickly."

Silver's rage began to bubble within him at the cruel memories that stung his mind. "You—you—I—"

"It was your first kiss, wasn't it?" she said, her eyes alluding to the fact that she had already known about his apparent lack of girlfriends. "I'm sorry, love. I would've let you keep it for yourself, but you were just so irresistible."

He was absolutely in shock! How could this middle-aged woman have some sort of affection towards him? He was a teenager, for goodness sake! This was insane, preposterous, mad even! He was completely speechless as the woman who stood in front of him. She walked towards him and led him to the bed. To his surprise, he didn't fight it. The two sat down on the edge of the bed as Ariana smiled down on him. It wasn't a smile of malice. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was loving and tender, something he thought was impossible for the woman who was known as a Black Widow among her cohorts.

"Did you happen to like it?" she asked with a smile. "Very few men ever have the chance to get a taste. You're so lucky." Silver wiped his mouth with his sleeve, disgusted at the fact that he was manipulated by that wretched woman. She laughed a bit as she rubbed his shoulders tenderly. "Silver, I only want what's best for you. Team Rocket is a dangerous enemy to have against you and you're not like other trainers. I know it sounds odd now, but you'll learn soon enough." She stood up from the bed and began to head for the door. She opened it wide and stopped in its frame. "I do hope you like your new surroundings. Fit for a king, like yourself,"

"What do you mean by that?" snarled Silver as his fists clenched tightly.

"Oh ho ho, I think I've said too much," she laughed, whipping out a fan. She began to fan herself daintily as she began to shut the door. Silver bolted towards it, hoping for the chance to escape. "Sweet dreams, Silver." With a loud bang, the door slammed in his face. Not missing a beat, the boy began to beat his fists on the door, screaming at her to return. The only response he heard was her heels hitting the floor and echoing down the hallways as she left.

Silver stared at the wall, contemplating the woman's words for a moment. Growling to himself, he slumped down on the ground, sighing as he fell. "I'm such a fool," he said to no one in particular. "How could I have been so stupid? She looked nothing like her! and now Lyra's in danger because of my actions!" He banged his fist against the wall, creating a loud echo within the room. Calming down a bit, he ran a hand through his hair. "If Team Rocket wanted me dead, they would've killed me by now. But they're keeping me alive, for some reason." His eyebrows furrowed as he began to reflect on the red headed executive's words. "Why is Ariana acting so nice to me? She's the most devious member of this team and yet, she's being so sentimental around me. There has to be an explanation behind all of this. The attack, the venom, the kidnapping, everything." He stared at the mirror across the room and took in his reflection. Red eyes stared back at him, asking in their unique way how he would solve this impending mystery. "Whatever they're hiding, I'm going to figure it out. And when I do, I'll make sure they regret ever having crossed paths with me."

xxXXxx

Lyra arrived in Mahogany Town in record timing. That was a perk about Team Rocket; they were everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. As soon as the grunt left her on her own, she flew into action, running up to the houses of the neighbourhood. Not knowing exactly where she was yet, she ducked behind a shed and consulted the map that Archer had sent her. According to it, she was only a few feet away from the spot.

"Perfect," she said to herself as she closed the device. "Now there's no escaping me," She rolled from house to house, peering through windows and not noticing anyone around.

Eventually she reached her target. This house, in sharp contrast to the cottage in the woods, was much bigger. It had two floors, with the bedrooms residing on the second floor. A cozy living space sat near the doorway and a kitchen sat on the opposite side of the room.

"This is it," she said as she crawled over to the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and wiggled it. To her surprise, she noticed that it was unlocked. "What a stupid idiot! Who leaves their doors unlocked?" Opening the door wide, she rolled into the room and stood inside, her left hand holding a pokeball. This time though, she chose not to yell.

An elderly lady sat at the dining room table, sipping a cup of tea. She looked up from her cup, but didn't turn to face Lyra. "Kids these days never knock."

The brunette blinked her eyes a few times, completely taken aback by her calm demeanor. She should be terrified of her! "Listen up, lady, you're coming with me whether you like it or not."

The woman smiled but did not move, only saying, "I would love to go for a walk with you, dearie. But I'm afraid my back isn't what it used to be."

Lyra snarled and said, "Look, you senile old woman, I don't care about the status of your back or anything about you for that matter. All I want is for you to come with me, quietly and effectively."

"It looks like you could use a nice dose of manners," said the lady as she pulled out a worn pokeball from underneath her shawl.

Lyra smiled as she noticed the sphere and laughed. "So you're that old after all." Lyra released her meganium, which nearly took up the entirety of the room.

"You have much still to learn," chastised the woman. "Pokémon have no age, as you have no dignity."

"Enough with the chit-chat!" yelled the brunette as she extended her arm towards her Pokémon.

"But conversation is the medium of many actions. Yes, without talk, I fear we would get nowhere in life." She grabbed a cane from underneath the table and stood up, turning to face Lyra. Lyra felt herself back up a fraction, suddenly intimidated by the seemingly insane woman. "You were not clothed in black before. Why the sudden shift in ideals?"

Lyra glanced down at her clothing, which was the Team Rocket outfit. The only thing that made her stand apart from most other members was her poofy black hat. But what was so special about that? She'd always worn these clothes. "My clothing has nothing to do with who I am."

"Ah, but I'm afraid it does. You see, once you have tasted darkness, it never really leaves you. And I'm afraid that part of you has swallowed up the goodness within your soul." She sighed lightly, folding her hands around the handle of the cane. "It is quite saddening, actually. I had so much hope for you. Hope in that light of yours."

"What are you babbling about, you old witch? I've never seen you before," That caused a slight reaction within the woman. Lyra smiled a bit, having found a crack in her armor. "Something wrong? Run out of words to spew?" That moment of victory was short-lived, however, as the spark in her eyes returned and her playful grin crept onto her face once again.

"Oh no, sweetie, nothing's wrong. I just remembered something from my past…" She paused slightly. "It is as if history has repeated itself once again. Only this time, it has struck at such an unlikely place. Pity, I had thought maybe you would find the strength within you to fight back, but I suppose I'm getting too old for my predictions."

Hearing that word on her lips sparked something within every inch of Lyra's being. It spread through her like a fire and it wouldn't be quenched until she pummelled this pathetic woman to the ground. She gritted her teeth and stared directly at the retched person. "Don't you talk to me about strength, you wicked old woman! I am stronger than I have ever been and there is nothing that will stop me from achieving greatness!" the brunette yelled ferociously. The two females stood in silence for a moment before the woman spoke up.

"Those words…I remember them well…" Her eyes drifted along the floor and never glanced up as she spoke. "It seems so long ago, yet so close. Yes, those words were spoken by one of my dearest friends. Friendship is something I truly love and dearly miss. It is also something you would never understand." She quickly lifted her gaze to stare at Lyra. She could see a fire like hers burning within her blue eyes and Lyra gasped slightly at the intensity. This woman must have gone through so much in order to earn that fire. But how? She was both intrigued and frightened at the prospect.

Suddenly, though, the fire went out, and the softness of her gaze returned. "I only request one thing of you, dearie," she said with a smile.

Lyra titled her head to the side, not expecting such a request from her. "Yeah? And what would that be?"

"Can we take this outside? I would hate to see my newly waxed floors get stained with your nasty blood."

**A/N: I'm adding lyrics from "Maniac" by Girlicious in future chapters. It is just way too appropriate for this story. No one has reviewed my newest story, "Towering Presence"! I thought people liked N stories. If you fancy that kind of stuff, then kindly take a gander over to my profile and peruse it. Anyways, back to Venom! Now that we finally know what has become of Silver, what is going on with him? Why is Ariana acting so friendly? Why is Archer interested in ****Hélène****? And what reason does Lyra have to be barging into elderly women's houses at obscene times of the night? All this and more in the next thrilling installment! Stay tuned!**


	15. Artificial Nocturne

Chapter 15

Artificial Nocturne

_The clock is ticking, I'm about to crack just like a maniac on the edge_

Gold flew above the skies on the back of the Champion's dragon, clouds blurring past him. Even though the dragonite soared at an incredible speed, he felt like he was crawling at a snail's pace. He didn't want to seem agitated in front of Lance; that would only make him worry. Instead, he wanted to act strong and reserved, like he had everything in order. In all honesty, though, anyone could tell that behind the false exterior there was a thread keeping his very being intact. At this point it was fraying and quivering in the wind. There was still hope inside of him; he knew Lyra could be saved, but how? He was just a teenager, a child to most. He had only just started exploring the world for his own and look where it had gotten him. If it weren't for the sheer luck of his chance run-in with the Champion, he would've been running around the Lake of Rage in circles, searching the area over and over to no avail. As the duo flew over a glassy looking body of water, Lance turned his head in Gold's direction.

"I apologize for being so sudden with you at the lake," he said. "I have become accustomed to dealing with some very brash people and I suppose I was only acting on instinct." He paused slightly. "You were probably wondering what I meant by the rampaging gyrados?" Gold nodded his head slowly, not knowing where he was going with the topic. "I have proof of it." From his belt he picked a pokeball and handed it to Gold. To the boy's surprise, it was a blood red colour and growled at him through its confines. He gasped and almost dropped the sphere but quickly regained his composure. "This gyrados was running wild in the lake, killing innocent Pokémon and people. The waters flowed red, the same hue as its scales. I happened to hear about it through word of mouth and decided to travel there and see the monster for myself. Little did I know it wasn't a monster at all. It was a genetic experiment, a marionette being played with by foreign strings. Somehow, someone had caused the false evolution of the magikarp the gyrados used to be. I knew it couldn't be the only one, but from what I could tell, it was the only one with such a red colouring. So I battled it and tamed its ferocious heart."

Gold passed the pokeball containing the odd creature back to the man, apprehensively letting his gaze drop from it. "I guess that's why they call you the dragon tamer."

That elicited a smile from the Champion. "Yes, indeed." He turned his head away from the boy but continued speaking. "This beautiful, ugly malformation is what drives me to eradicate the malevolent presence of people who wish to cause harm to the innocence of Pokémon."

"I don't know of anyone who would want to risk their lives to save a Pokémon, let alone take care of something so wild," said Gold. "I definitely believe you're a true Champion, Lance,"

The man laughed and replied, "I truly appreciate your sentiment Gold. It is rare these days to find such compassionate words in an otherwise cold and unwavering world." He extended his arm outwards, pointing to something below them. "We're almost there," he said above the rush of the wind. "Dragonite is about to pass over the Ilex Forest."

Gold nodded and returned his attention to the tiny landscape below him. The water was so pristine, so glossy that he was tempted to just fall off and fall into its cool waters, let it embrace him. Surely, it would be a much better comfort than this—

"Marill! Marill!" cried a high-pitched voice. He was snapped out of his daze by the tiny mouse Pokémon, who was wriggling in his lap. It popped out of his arms and began pointing to the ground like a maniac.

"Whoa, hold on little buddy!" he said in surprise, attempting to make sure that it didn't accidentally fall off the dragonite and to its untimely demise. "What is it?"

It continued its rampant cry as it pointed again to the land below.

"What's going on, Gold?" asked Lance, worry creeping into his voice.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to decipher just what the marill was trying to tell him. Obviously it wanted the two to look at whatever it was pointing towards but that was the problem—he couldn't make out what it was aiming at in the first place. The cloud cover was thick and unyielding now, making it almost impossible to see what was below them. Knowing that it wouldn't halt its screeching until he had properly analyzed the thing, he patted Lance on the shoulder and said, "Can you tell your dragonite to fly lower? I can't see through the clouds and I want to see what this guy is so freaked out about."

The red head nodded and said, "Dragonite! We have to fly a little lower!" The majestic dragon slowly swooped through the clouds and soon Gold was able to see everything around him. There was a path with some eager looking trainers milling around. The lake he had seen earlier was just now tapering off into smaller rivers. A single house stood sentinel across from the lake, almost like a blemish on the land. As they passed by it, Gold couldn't help but notice that it all seemed quite familiar to him…

"MARILL!" screamed the Pokémon as it jumped out of the boy's arms and into the endless air.

"What the—?!" shouted Gold in dismay as he groped through the air in an attempt to grab it again. It was too fast and his hands too slow, for the little creature went tumbling down towards the cold hard ground. "Lance, turn around! We've gotta catch Lyra's marill!"

The Champion commanded the dragonite to pull back, sending the two men into a tizzy of unbalance. He regained control, however, and sent his beast hurtling towards the falling marill at speeds even Gold didn't know were possible. Gold jutted his arm out towards the Pokémon, outstretching it in order to catch it before it fell to its untimely death. He was only inches away now, the dragonite was so fast. His fingers were just about to graze its ear when it bounced on his tail and towards the house, not a scratch on its tiny little body.

"Pull up! Pull up!" yelled Gold as he saw the ground coming closer to him than expected. Not wanting to turn his face into a lumpy mess of gravel, he pushed himself back onto the dragonite just as Lance pulled his dragon up in the nick of time. "That was close!" he said as the dragon hovered only a meter away from the ground.

"Almost too close," remarked the dragon tamer as he hopped off of his beast. Gold begrudgingly jumped off as well, feeling a slight unbalance in his feet, having become accustomed to sitting on the dragonite. "Where did the marill go?"

The Champion's question sparked Gold's memory once again and sent his eyes darting across the scenery for it. He soon saw it bouncing in front of the door to the only house in the area in what seemed to be an attempt at opening the door. He ran towards it, yelling at it to stop but it was to no avail as it already had the door open before he could grab it. Having put his arms out to catch it, Gold was not anticipating the open door and the space that came with it. He was sent sprawling onto the floor in a less-than-graceful spill on the floor. Lance, in sharp contrast, stepped over his crumpled body with a flick of his cape. The tip of its fabric tickled his nose as he passed.

"And just where do you think you're going?" asked Gold as he slowly got up. He noticed the flame-haired man opening a door near him and he could only guess that the marill had hopped into the room. Following him quietly, Gold then took the opportunity to glance around the house. The furniture, the layout, even the wallpaper was sparking something in his mind.

"Um, Lance?" he asked in a hushed tone. "I think we're in my grand—" But before he could finish his statement, he took in the scene of Lance flipping over a pillow on the bed to reveal a dark a oozing substance dripping from it.

"Venom," Gold spat as he took in the form of the dark liquid. It dotted the pillowcase and the sheets below it, trailing the clean white fabric with its sinister blackness. Gold clenched his fist, knowing that he had missed a vital sign in his investigation. _That could've saved her… _he thought in anger as he pounded his fist into the wall.

"Don't beat yourself up for this," comforted Lance as he placed a hand on Gold's shoulder. "How were you to know that this was here?"

"That's the problem," said Gold. "All this time, I've been one step behind everyone. Silver, Team Rocket, even Lyra. I'm supposed to be ahead of the game, be able to know what their planning. But I've never even had a clue."

"This might be the clue you need, Gold," said Lance as he ran a finger through the slimy black goo. Rubbing it between his fingers, Gold noticed that although it was partially dried now, it still retained some of its elasticity. Lance turned from the venom to the boy and smiled. "And this might just be your chance to put your mark on the playing field."

**xxXXxx**

Two women stood across from each other on a barren field outside of Mahogany Town, eyes staring daggers into the irises of their opponents. Their fists were clenched by their sides and their lips were pursed. The younger of the two raised an eyebrow at her elder, trying to figure out just what she was thinking.

"Well, are we going to stare at each other all day or are we going to fight like women?" asked the elder with a toothless grin.

"Whatever old woman," Lyra said with a scoff. "The longer this takes, the longer you'll have to suffer."

She laughed heartily in response. "Suffering? My dear, there will be no suffering on my part. Perhaps you are the one who suffers, having gone through such a distasteful change." She clicked her tongue. "If only you could reverse the darkness in your heart into the light you so desires. Maybe then we could see eye to eye."

"I've had enough of your selfish philosophy, you haggard old wench!" yelled the brunette. "Shut up and battle me!" Grabbing a pokeball from her waist, she released her meganium, which screamed out against the woman.

"I shall hope for a nice, clean battle," said the elderly woman with a smile, knowing that their talk wasn't going to go anywhere. "Let's go Ghost!" A rather slim gastly came springing out of the ball, a noxious gas creating a halo around its body.

"Ha!" Lyra laughed, clutching her stomach with her arm. "You can't be serious! You're challenging me with that thing?"

"Looks can be deceiving," quoted the woman as she wagged her finger in the air. "Use lick!"

"Meganium, dodge it and use slam!"

As the Pokémon moved away from the creature's wagging tongue, it slammed its head into its body. To its surprise, its head went straight through the gastly, creating quiet an odd scene to behold.

"Wha-what's going on?!" said Lyra in surprise as she witnessed her meganium wriggling through the gastly.

"Did you not learn the basic principles of battling?" the woman laughed. The laugh echoed and taunted Lyra, made her feel like she trapped in an endless world of whispers and warbling. Her vision was blurring and she could barely make out the figure of her Pokémon. It didn't make sense though—they were in the middle of a field, outside of town, not in a haunted tower with blackness engulfing them. What was wrong with her? Her eyes were spinning around and her head was reeling. There was nausea and dizziness and weakness all wrapped into one. She couldn't lose, not yet, not to this woman. Had she inflicted a spell on her? Cast her into some unending torment?

The laughing receded and Lyra's vision resumed its normal state. She saw her opponent leaning on her cane with a smile on her face. She groaned in exasperation, lifting a hand to her aching forehead. "That is my dear gastly's special ability, called curse. I inflicted it on your meganium when it attacked. It not only affects the Pokémon's mind, but that of its owner as well." The strange woman's eyes peered into Lyra's and the younger of the two gasped. They seemed to be livid with spirits of some sort. Within her eyes were those of a thousand others, winking and blinking in unison.

"What have you done to me?" Lyra said in a hushed tone. She was struggling to stand now and she could see her meganium was as well.

"Anything you do will be mirrored by your Pokémon. It would be wise to make movements as minimal as possible," advised the woman. "I warned you that the darkness would taint you. And I can tell from your mannerisms that my curse has brought out the evil within you. Pity, really. I never intended for you to have to live out such a disgraceful and menacing torture, but perhaps this will teach you to stay in the light and be deterred by the shadow it casts."

"No…" groaned Lyra as she clutched her abdomen. "I won't give up that easily…!"

"Ah, still got a bit of fight in you? I like that!" She turned her eyes to her gastly.

"Use razor leaf…meganium!" The Pokémon obeyed, but only after pulling its weary head out of the gastly's body. Leaves were sent hurtling in the ghost's direction and made contact. It was sent backwards a little, but stuck out its tongue in a mocking way. "What? I thought it would be—"

"—more effective?" finished the lady. "You've forgotten that gastly and its evolutions are half ghost half poison. Grass is dreadfully ineffective against it, I'm afraid."

"No, I won't lose!" Lyra shouted in frustration. "I've never lost, and I never will!"

"Oh?" said her opponent in surprise. "Are you sure about that? Because I remember you losing to a certain member of the nefarious Team Rocket of which you affiliate yourself with presently. An Executive Proton, I believe?"

The brunette's eyes widened and her mouth went slack. Was what she was saying true? About the darkness, the faded light and maybe even her apparent loss at the hands of one of her beloved executives? _All of this time I've thought of this woman as a lying old witch, a haggard woman. But maybe there's an inkling of truth to her fables. She knows of strength, it's unparalleled! But in all honesty, she's not a Rocket, and not an ally. Or is she? Could I have been…wrong about her?_

She suddenly felt her heart palpitate violently and she gasped for air. Dropping to the ground like a fly, she curled up into a ball, trying to ease the pain she was feeling.

"My dear?" asked the elderly woman. Through her nearly closed eyelids, Lyra could see that she was rushing to her aid. Comforting hands touched her shoulders and rubbed her aching muscles.

"What's…happening to me…?" asked Lyra in a whisper as she grunted against another wave of pain.

"My curse should not have inflicted pain on you," consoled the woman. She continued to rub the girl's tired shoulders, which were slumped forwards and shaking. The vibrations pulsed through her body and a shiver ran up her spine. "This is something else, something much more sinister. I never meant to cause harm to you, I swear it. Please, tell me, what do you feel?"

Lyra struggled to talk through the pain, it was so intense. She winced a bit but found the strength to explain, "My heart…it's beating like mad…and my head is so dizzy…"

"Shh," hushed the woman. Lifting the girl up by her armpits, Lyra groaned as she was hoisted onto her feet. Her body was so weak though that she began to collapse. The elderly lady however, had a frim grip on her and prevented her from falling like a rag doll. "It's alright dear. I'll take care of you, don't you worry."

**A/N: Ack! Sorry for the week-long delay everyone. Seems I haven't been as motivated as I'd like to be. Regardless, it's here now so read away! I've done a sort of plot summary for each chapter and lemme tell you it's pretty intense right now. Half of the plot came on a whim. These next few chappies are gonna be intense! This chapter however didn't end up as I thought it would. I think I may have added an additional chapter into the mix because of it. It's also a bit of a lull in terms of action, at least for me. But I'm really looking forward to the next one! It promises a look into Proton's perspective as well as another chance to see just what Silver is up to. 'Til next week everyone!**


	16. The Void

Chapter 16

The Void

_I need some anesthetic cause I start to panic when the feelings get too familiar_

Silver sat on his bed, sighing to himself as he stared at the ceiling. There had been nothing to do within the furnished confinement that was now his residence. He had scanned the room for any crack or secret passage in which to escape, but he knew that, even if it was Team Rocket that kidnapped him, they weren't that stupid. Instead, he perused the books on the shelf that stood in front of his bed and sometimes brainstormed ideas about finding a way out. Today he would continue that regiment, for what else was a teenage boy with a flair for anger to do?

Sliding off of the bed, he crouched onto the ground, attempting to practice his stealth. He never heard a sound as his body hit the floor and he smiled, knowing that if the time for flight came, he would be ready. He walked over to the bookshelf and plopped back down on the floor. He had gotten through half of the collection at this point and was now moving on to the third row. Fingering the spines, he flipped open a random novel, which contained a rather boring story about a feisty female protagonist falling in love with a brooding and less-than-handsome antihero. Rolling his eyes, he scoffed at whoever decided to stock his shelves. _Someone must love crappy romance and badly written monologues,_ he concluded as he shut the book's cover and set it back in place. As he trailed his finger across the books again, he stopped on a particular one that stood out from the sappy love stories. He tilted his head to the side slightly as he pulled it out gingerly. It was very old in comparison to the others, as its edges were frayed and the cover's colouring had seen better days. Finally coming across something that sparked his interest, he flipped through its worn and tattered pages, searching for its name.

"_The Communist Manifesto_…" he said to himself as he began to scan through the paragraphs. Finding a line of interest, he began to read aloud. "'Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!'" His eyebrows furrowed at the descriptive word choice and tried to decipher what it meant. "Nothing to lose but our chains, huh? I could do that. Rising up against those who would oppress us? I'm good with that too. That seems odd though, considering this book was probably written before Team Rocket even existed." Scanning through the rest of the book's contents, he found his way to the back of the book. On the last page, there was a tiny paragraph stating the translator of the book and the author of the original text. A picture of the author was placed below the text, showing an old man with an extremely bushy beard and a stern expression on his face. "Karl Marx?" he said in surprise. He kept his eyes on the picture, not knowing what to think of the supposed maker behind the quite inspiring work of literature. Having come to no conclusions as to what sort of man he could have been, he decided to focus on his appearance. "What kind of a beard is that?" Shaking his head slightly ad the oddity of his choice in facial hair, Silver set the book down, but left it open on the page with the interesting quote. "I wonder what he means by 'proletarians'…"

He didn't have much time to contemplate the word, because he could hear approaching footsteps from behind his door. Scurrying to resume his regular spot on the bed, he was torn between returning the book to its place on the shelf and hiding it under his bed. Not wanting to forget it, he slid it under the frame of the bed before jumping onto the mattress. Resuming his bored and apathetic demeanor, he put his hands behind his head and resumed staring at the ceiling.

From outside entered a grunt, who kept his head angled at the ground. He held a tray of food in his hands. As Silver stared daggers into the lowly life form, he saw him drop the tray a few feet away from the bed, tip his hat, and leave without so much as one word. The red head didn't care—he actually preferred it when they were silent. As soon as he knew that the grunt was far away, he walked over to the food and took it in: a steaming bowl of potato soup with green onions, a cup of cool water and a roll of bread greeted him. Surprised at the abundance of food that sat in front of him, he contemplated what to do; should he abstain from consuming the delicious looking food, for fear of concealed arsenic? Or should he give into his stomach's constant calls and supply is body with the energy he so desperately needed?

Feeling that death would be a better option than living in this cell for the rest of his life, he began to scarf down the food. The soup was unlike anything he'd ever tasted. It was smooth, rich in flavour, and warmed its way down his stomach, filling him with its potato-flavoured goodness. Rotating between the water and the soup, he finished them both off within minutes, using the roll as a sort of mop, picking up the loose ends of the soup that still remained in the bowl. He licked his lips and sighed in content, never having eaten such a wonderful meal in ages.

"If this is my last supper, then I've gone out happy," he said with a slight smile. Leaning against the frame of the bed, he began to close his eyes; now feeling like a nap would do him a lot of good. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, his eyes snapped open. He turned his attention to the door, which was slightly ajar. A draft blew through the room and ruffled his hair slightly. Had that grunt done…what he thought he did? The boy stood up slightly and titled his head. Yes, apparently, he had.

"Maybe Team Rocket isn't as smart as I think they are," Silver concluded as he opened the door quietly.

Peering down the hallway, he only noticed a few grunts here and there that were milling about, attending to whatever they needed to. As soon as the coast was clear, Silver decided that it was his chance to do a little reconnaissance. He sprinted from hall to hall, avoiding the peering eyes of grunts galore and finding his way through the giant chasm of his cell. Soon he found his way to a certain passageway that housed a mahogany door at its end. He could tell just by looking at it that this was not just another photocopying room. _This might be one of the executive's offices_, the read head thought as he ducked underneath the doorknob. Taking a quick look around the area, he pressed his ear to the door and began to listen.

"You're turning soft, Ariana," chastised a voice from within the room. This was it! He had actually made it to an office of significance! He smiled to himself as he listened on.

"Me? Going soft?" Silver heard a laugh resonate within the room. "Please, Petrel, I thought you knew me so much better than that."

"I've seen the way you treat the boy. It's as if you…care for him!" replied the purple haired executive with a snicker.

"Watch your tongue," warned the woman. The venom in her voice was undeniable.

"It might not be you that's causing the change," added Petrel in defense. "Kids can really morph people into something they're not."

"Come now," Ariana replied, the harshness in her voice having dissipated quite quickly. "Have I ever let any pathetic little child get in the way of my cruelty?"

There was a pause and Silver could only assume that Ariana was moving within the room. Soon there was a light-hearted laugh and the shuffle of shoes that seemed to be coming in his direction. He ducked lower and was prepared to run into the nearby hall, but stopped once the footsteps began to recede.

"Keep those ruby lips of yours away from me, you conniving woman," said Petrel.

"You know you want a taste, however brief it may be," cooed Ariana seductively.

"That's what I'm afraid of, sweetheart. If I ever get a whiff of you, it'll be the end of me."

"Have you heard of our newest conquest, Petrel?" Ariana asked, suddenly shifting the conversation away from her.

"Ah, the little Lyra girl? Yes, she is quite the specimen. Proton has grown fond of her."

"He's doing a wonderful job at moulding her. She isn't anything like the annoying little brat she used to be."

"You're telling me," laughed Petrel. "Have you seen her lately?"

"There's no need to describe her assets to me," snickered Ariana. "I can only imagine what you think of her now."

"Hey, hey, don't go branding me as some kind of creep. I only take glances when I know they won't be returned."

"Regardless…" There was a brief pause before the woman continued. "I hear she's on her first solo mission. Out to capture some elderly woman, I believe?"

Petrel's laugh could be heard ringing through the room. "She's going to have a hard time trying to get that old hag to do anything she says, let alone capture her!"

"Oh?" asked Ariana in surprise. "And why would that be?"

"She attacked me with her overgrown mouse back in the Ilex Forest. Made my weezing go into a state of shock, in a matter of speaking. I had an electric spark every time I touched something metallic for a week straight!"

"That's what you get for messing with a woman," Ariana retorted.

The blaring of a pager interrupted their talk and Silver swallowed the lump in his throat. What could they possibly be planning with Lyra now that she was under their control? He didn't want to think of the extreme situations that she could get herself into, let alone remind himself of his failure to save her. He balled his fists in anger. He shouldn't have let this happen, not in a million years. His thoughts were interrupted by Ariana's voice responding to the call.

"Executive Ariana speaking. Yes, what is it? What? You have got to be joking. Ugh, fine, I'll be right there." He heard her hang up the phone. "Looks like one of my men has lost track of a businessman he was supposed to mug tonight. I have to re-do the entire mission."

"Now who's getting in the way?" taunted Petrel. Silver's heart began to race as he heard the sound of Ariana's stiletto's clicking on the floor. He needed to get out of there—and fast!

"He is, of course."

Just as Silver ducked into the nearby hall, Ariana emerged with Petrel hot on her trail.

"Want me to accompany you and help dole out the discipline?" he asked with a grin.

"Do as you wish," she replied as the two passed Silver without noticing him. It wasn't until he heard the clicking cease that he scurried back to his room, unsure of what to make of his impromptu conversation creeping.

xxXXxx

Archer sat at his desk, back perfectly straight and his hand gliding across a piece of parchment, scrawling words that fit with his current report. Things had only gotten busier as the weeks flew by;, his plans concerning the safe return of their former boss all coming to a head. Add onto that the fact that he had a new test subject to play with and he was most certainly in over his head, in a matter of speaking. He would have to take a break soon and see how she was faring on her first mission.

A knock on the door interrupted his meticulous writing and he looked up. Only a selected few would disturb him while he was working and he had a faint guess as to who it might be.

"Come in," he stated as he placed his pen down on the desk. From within the hallways came Proton, who inclined his head slightly before quietly closing the door. He walked to Archer's desk and sighed.

"Now, now," chastised Archer with a smile. "I know that when you sigh, there's trouble. Who are you going to traumatize today?"

"Lyra is missing."

His breath hitched in his throat. Then somehow, he mustered a laugh. "You must be joking, surely."

"No, sir, I'm afraid not."

Another snag in his breathing. "When was the last time someone contacted her?"

"The grunt who dropped her at the location was the last one to see or hear from her."

"Has a search party been sent out?"

"Yes, but to no avail," replied Proton.

_How could this have happened? I made sure she was prepared, had all the tests run, _Archer thought. His mind was spinning and he knew that if she did not return soon, his plans would fall to pieces, like the shattering of a thousand glass bottles. Piercing, oozing, painful memories leaked into his thoughts and the man could hardly contain himself.

Fists slammed into the desk and teeth gritted together in a painful melody. Archer could see that Proton was taken aback by his outburst. After all, he never showed this side to anyone, ever. He was calm, cool, collected and prompt, the face of an organization that prided itself on crime and punishment. That was right; he was the model for which everyone looked up to. He needn't be so rash.

With a calming breath, he allowed a smile to edge its way onto his face. He could handle this, no problem. He had handled situations like this before and there was no way that he would let it bother him.

"Proton, I want you to go to spot where Lyra was last seen. Search for her and bring her back." He swivelled his chair to the left and placed his hands below his chin. "I am more than positive that you will be able to complete this objective within twenty four hours." He returned his gaze to the teal haired man, who had resumed his normal status, and allowed his grin to spread itself wide, like that of butterflies' wings. "And please, do not hesitate to use any force necessary."

**A/N: I've officially planned out the rest of this story and it turns out to be around thirty chapters long, including ones already posted of course. So congrats! You're slightly more than halfway through now. :P There's just so much more delicious drama and mystery coming up that I needed a substantial amount of chapters to cover it. I'd estimate that this story will be done at the end of September/the first week of October of this year, if I keep to my schedule. Right now I'm currently brainstorming ideas of a new fanfiction that will replace this one as my new weekly update after its completion. Any ideas? **


	17. Poster of a Girl

Chapter 17

Poster of a Girl

_Is it cold? 'Cause I got the shivers_

Hélène sat in her den, sipping her chai tea with a heavy heart. For the past four hours, she had heard nothing but the muffled noises of a very fitful Lyra. From what she could tell, the girl was having a string of terrible nightmares; she would burst out of the bed sheets, like something had grabbed her, or sometimes she would scream at the top of her lungs before the world came back to greet her again. Every time Lyra awoke from her stupor, the woman was there, a cold washcloth in hand, her soothing voice ready to comfort the distraught teenager. After a few minutes of reassurance, she would resume her sleep and the dreaming state she had previously been trapped in. Hélène feared that the neighbours might think she was a kidnapper due to all of the odd noises she produced.

Regardless of her new inhabitant's mannerisms, Hélène kept herself awake all night by either drinking another sweet tea or resorting to a good ol' slap in the face. Her Pokémon found her to be quite the comedian, as more than once, her gastly would stick its tongue out at her and smile. Their amusement helped to calm her nerves and help her think about the situation she was now faced with.

"Even though I've grown in the light, the darkness always whispers to me," Hélène said with a smile. Turning to her gastly, it grinned back and disappeared into the air as if it never really existed in the first place. "And to think, I believed I would become a grass type gym leader back home…" She returned her gaze to her cup, which was steaming with the hot liquid. Never having been a coffee drinker, she took a sip and sighed. "The only thing I can't manage to figure out is why this girl is so important."

Hélène stood up and walked over to Lyra. At this point, she was in the blissful state of limbo; the one between fitful nightmares and full consciousness. This was the time where she could do what she wanted without fear of another episode. Walking over to her cupboards, she rifled through them and found an old photo. Within it lay three figures: on the left hand side was a peppy young boy with spiky hair and a lopsided grin, who had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a young girl with straight brown hair, and on the right side stood a quite sombre looking teenager who also had his arm wrapped around the girl in the middle. A small message was scrawled on the corner, reading "First Summer of Freedom!" Hélène sighed to herself and resumed her seat at the table, photo clutched in her free hand.

"Why did we have to go down such different paths?" she asked herself. "If only we had followed our hearts. Maybe then we could've made it out of the woods unscathed by the demons within it." Not wishing to relive those terrible memories again, she placed the picture down on the table, hiding the smiling faces from her. Taking a deep and cleansing breathe, she snapped her eyes open. This was no time to reminisce on the bygone days. She had a new path to continue and it did not include salty tears and a freshly opened wound.

Fumbling through her shawl, she released her gengar, which laughed at her in its content and lazy fashion. "Gengar, I want you to find the young boy with the baseball cap and tell him to meet me here at sunrise." The Pokémon did a half flip in the air, the smile on its face never wavering. "You know which boy I mean, don't try to pull that old stunt on me." Another laugh emitted. "Once you find him, take this note to the headquarters." She took out said note and handed it to said Pokémon. It clawed at the paper and attempted to read it. "And don't think I believe for a second that you can read my handwriting. You know as well as I do that it's a heaping mess of swirly lines and hearts for dots. Now go!" Within seconds, the ghost had slipped through the walls of her home and out into the dark night, a shade amidst the blackness.

Once she knew that the gengar had left, she continued her thinking where she had left off. Oh yes, she had been wondering about the importance of Lyra in Team Rocket's nefarious plans. It wasn't long before she began piecing together the strings of a spider's web far vaster than she could have ever imagined. If Lyra had been drafted into the crime syndicate, it had to be for a reason. She had been placed on a mission to capture her, but why? She had kept herself off the radar, hidden where now grunt could ever find her. And yet, someone had. Of all the people who came knocking at her door, it was this petite brunette with the odd habit of switching personalities. Unless she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it was quite obvious that her mental condition was created from a synthetic source and not one of a more genetic background.

And what was the explanation for all of her dreams? No one, not even the worst of sleepers experienced the dreadful fits of nightmarish hallucinations that she did. There had to be another string being pulled, another person playing with her marionette's strings that made her act that way. And there was only one person she could think of that would be responsible for such a destructive act.

The memory came flooding into her mind and she had to stop herself from toppling over. Grasping her cane with an iron grip, she clutched her temples and prayed for it to stop. It didn't.

_"You know that you cannot run from me for long, dearest_ _Hélène, for you see, I will come back as a stronger, more capable human being as the world as never seen! And you, sweetheart, you will be—"_

As soon as the last syllable was spoken in her mind, the pain subsided. Hélène tried to calm her erratic breathing and resume her state of blissful calm. She looked back at Lyra and then at her shaking hands. _This girl…could she be the link he needs to succeed?_ She asked herself as she glanced out the window. The crisp, clean air of the night flowed through her and she sighed. At this point, it was around four in the morning, but the thick black of the evening was still rolling through the plains of the town, staining it with its inky colour. If she didn't get to bed now, she wouldn't have the energy to meet her gengar in the morning, not to mention her guest.

"Oh Lyra," she said as she headed towards her bedroom. "I pray that you are not the tool I believe you to be. If you are…" She could barely make herself utter the words that came tumbling into her mouth. "…then I fear my days on this earth might be coming to an end."

xxXXXxx

Lyra couldn't help herself as she fell from dream to nightmare. She knew she had been dancing in this endless rehearsal for hours now, but she didn't think she could shake the enticing thought of sleeping for only a little bit of time. However, instead of being greeted with a dream-free slumber, she was haunted by visions. This time, it was not a cold-sweat inducing phenomena; it was a peaceful dream.

She stood on the shoreline of an unfamiliar ocean, her hair blowing in the wind. She looked down on the glassy waters and took in her reflection. She looked normal, except for the fact that a face stared back at her from beneath the water's surface. She shrieked in surprise and took a step back. Who was that? And why were they there in the first place?

"Leave me alone!" she cried out, shielding herself with her arms. She heard no answer, but lowered her arms to reveal the silhouette of a man ascending from beneath the water. The liquid cascaded off his body and dripped onto the ocean with a soothing sound. Titling her head to the side, she finally recognized who it was. "Proton?"

"Lyra," he replied, relief evident in his voice. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Safe?" she questioned. "Of course I am!"

"No…" the man paused, looking off into the distance. "You have done well so far, but someone is trying to tear you away from me."

"Who is it? Tell me!"

"The woman who claims she is bathed in light is truly drenched in darkness."

Lyra blinked, not understanding Proton's drawn out metaphors and fancy speech. "Please, just tell me who it is."

"Wherever you are now is a dangerous place. You must leave now!"

"But why?"

A pleading expression crossed Proton's face and he beckoned forward. "Come to me, Lyra."

"I can't! I don't know how to swim," she said with a heavy heart, regretting taking dance lessons over swimming classes.

"Don't worry. Just take my hand." He extended his arm and she hesitantly let hers find its way towards him. As soon as he clasped her hand, she felt all of her worry wash away with the coming tide. She sighed, not having experienced such a beautiful peace since she had started her journey. Little did she know that she was literally walking on the dream water with Proton as he began to lead her farther out into the ocean. He pulled her close and Lyra sucked in a breath as her face became very close to his. "I'll make sure you're safe, I promise."

Suddenly she woke up with a start, her eyes taking in the sight of an unfamiliar house. Unbeknownst to her, though, her eyes were quite glazed over and gazed out without her usual cheery expression. She pulled the sheets off of her slowly and began to walk towards the door with calculated steps. The door was opened without a sound and the girl walked into the cold night, unaware of the figure that loomed at the side of the house. She stopped in the middle of the road and stared at the stars, a blank expression painted on her doll-like face. Soon, the figure took his chance and walked up to her and placed a firm grip on her shoulders. In his free hand lay a needle filled with black liquid, poised to strike.

"Stop!"

From behind the man came an elderly woman who was heading towards him, a pokeball clutched in her hand. "You will not lay a finger on that girl."

"Too late," he casually responded as he took the opportunity to caress her cheek. "She's mine."

"People are not property," the woman sassed. "You more than anyone should know that."

"Oh? And why is that?" The man was having fun bantering with the old bat, even if it was cutting into his mission time.

"You are known as cruel and scary, but you know deep in the recesses of your blackened heart that owning another human is wrong. You take pleasure in it so as to cover your true feelings. It's a shame really. Did you lose another's love before and fear it will happen again?" The woman clicked her tongue in a chastising manner. "I understand your need for affection, but controlling a teenager is quite a despicable deed."

The stranger gritted his teeth slightly, but allowed his grin to widen. "It seems you're much more intelligent than I took you for. Sadly for you, your mind won't help you when my wrath is unleashed!" From his belt, a golbat hovered over his shoulder and glared at the woman menacingly. "If you let me complete my mission, then I will let you go with minimal harm. If not…be warned that I will take whatever steps I have to in order to keep you silent."

"Let me guess…You're going to use your golbat to try and bite me too? OR is it just a backup in case your venom doesn't work?"

That made the man grunt in anger. How had she been so observant? "Well, well, I think you've just proved yourself to be a valuable asset. Golbat! Show this lady what you intend to do."

"Not unless I show my side of the plan first!" From her shawl, she released a raichu, which flared with electricity.

"So this is the rat that gave Petrel a beating…" he mused to himself. "Fine, show me what you've got!"

"Raichu, use thunder!"

"Oh no, you're not pulling that stunt on me," the man smiled. "Golbat, dodge it and attack her directly!"

"What?" the woman said in fear as he attack narrowly missed its intended recipient. The golbat came flying towards her, fangs open and glistening in the moonlight.

"Watch, Lyra, and see what happens to those who cross us." He whispered in her ear. The girl only nodded slowly as she witnessed the scene with half-closed eyes.

"No! I won't go down like that!" Remarkably, the woman jumped out of the way of his bat's attack, but lost her cane in the process. She fell onto the ground and fumbled on the ground, trying to find a way to her cane once again.

"I believe you just did," remarked the man. He slowly strolled up to her, leaving his sleeping possession standing behind him. "Now, if you'll come quietly, I'll forget about this whole ordeal." The lady didn't respond. "No? Well then, we'll just have to do things my way, now won't we…?" Just as he was about to grab for her, she punched him in the shin, sending the man yelling out in pain. Curses flew through the air as the woman continued to crawl back over to her cane.

"Ha!" she laughed. "Did you really think I was that defenseless? Think again, Rocket!"

The man scoffed and stood up, leaning most of his weight on his pain-free leg. "You are a little firecracker, aren't you…" As he began to hobble towards Lyra once again, he quickly motioned to his golbat, who was waiting patiently for his master, and commanded, "Use bite!"

"Aaah!" cried the woman as her raichu was bitten hard by the bat Pokémon. Not able to withstand the attack, the mouse collapsed on the ground, unable to continue. "I should've known you'd cheat, you filthy Rocket."

"Then why did you fall for it?" he remarked. He made his way to the woman's cane and just as she was about to reach it, he kicked it away and into the bushes that surrounded her property. "You know what? I believe I've stumbled across someone who could prove very useful to me. And I'm afraid to inform you that when Team Rocket finds something of value…well, let's just say we adhere to the strict rule of "finder's keeper's"." With a swift kick, the man made contact with the woman's stomach, making her keel over in pain. Knowing that she couldn't fight back, he stood over the now helpless woman. He smiled wickedly as he trailed his finger down her jawline. He heard her breath hitch as he took her chin in his hand. "I think this is the end…my dear Hélène."

**A/N: This chapter marks the longest story I've ever written on Fanfiction! Yeah! But I apologize for yet another behind schedule update. It just seems like the summer weather is getting to me now and making me lazy. However, I have changed the date of uploads for new chapters from Fridays to Saturdays. I feel it's easier for me to find time on the weekend rather than a weekday. Other than that, any thought on what is going to happen to Helene and Lyra now that they're in Team Rocket's gloved clutches? Or any possible ideas for story replacements once this one is done?**


	18. Lost Kitten

Chapter 18

Lost Kitten

_Can't you see? It's slowly killing me—your love is like poison_

Gold sighed as he rested his hands behind his head, eyes taking in the blissful night sky that hung above him. The stars were bright and flashy tonight, dancing and flickering as the seconds passed by. He was not able to fall asleep, understandably, kept up by the constant worries about what the black ooze that was found in his grandparent's house could mean. Had she accidentally vomited it up? Did it spill out of a wound? Or did someone give her more? He was sure that most of the possibilities he pondered were ridiculous, but he just couldn't stop the constant brainstorm from causing havoc in his mind.

A stirring noise to his left disturbed him and he turned to see Lance awaking from a bought of dreams. Rustling his shock of red hair, the man glanced over at Gold, a worried yet tired expression on his face.

"Can't fall asleep?" he asked.

The boy had to nod, feeling that a lie would get him nowhere, especially since he was now befriending the most powerful trainer in the region. He sighed once again and noticed Lance sitting up in his sleeping bag. He peered dup at the sky and smiled. "This sky…it reminds me of the night I caught my first dratini."

Gold's eyes perked up slightly at the mention of the legendary Pokémon. "Really?"

The tamer nodded in response and said, "I chose the night of the full moon to go down to the Dragon's Den to search for the elusive dragon. I waited in the darkness for hours, hoping and watching for any signs of it. There was nothing for the longest time. Eventually, I started to see a shimmering light descending from the ceiling of the cave. I discovered that there was a small hole that was allowing the moonlight into the cavern. As I looked down, I saw this beautiful dratini, dancing on the surface of the water, illuminated by that same moonlight. I was mesmerized. Truly, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I knew in that instant that I wanted to be able to harness such a beauty and to make it my own."

Gold whistled and smiled, allowing his lips to curve upwards sleazily. "And here I thought a guy like you would spend your time in the company of beautiful women."

That elicited a strong and hearty laugh from the dragon master. "While I find women to be exceedingly ravishing, I think I'm more attracted to the raw beauty of a beast of nature."

"Whatever floats your boat, I guess," responded Gold. He resumed his staring at the stars, but they seemed…off in colour. They were a hazy purple colour and seemed to fade in and out. He cocked his head to the side, attempting to figure out why the stars had suddenly changed. Out of the blue, a pair of beady eyes glared at him from above and Gold cried out in surprise, his arms flailing within the fabric of his sleeping quarters. "W-what the heck is this thing?!" A creepy smile emerged from thin air and menaced him. Gold was unable to move as the disembodied parts stared at him.

"A gengar?" said Lance. The rest of said Pokémon's body finally appeared, making Gold calm down slightly, but not enough to allow his limbs their mobility back. "But what would it be doing here?"

"I could say that about a lot of the stuff that's gone down lately," replied Gold with a frown. He examined the creature, who continued to levitate in front of him. Unlike Lance, he could not get a single thing out of the purple night-crawler's thoughts. Instead, he chose to keep in his frozen position.

Lance stared at the creature and Gold could tell that he was reading it. A few seconds passed before he spoke up. "It says that it was sent by its mistress to send a message to a boy with midnight hair…" The gengar nodded at the man with a grin and resumed staring at Gold. "It wants to tell you that your friend has been found by its master…and that she is slowly declining. She needs you to come and get her—"

"That's Lyra!" shouted Gold. He jumped out of the sleeping bag and stood in front of the gengar. "Tell me, where is she?"

"She lives on the outskirts of Mahogany Town. She is waiting for you there. He warns you that time is of the essence and that it would be wise to arrive before dawn." Lance paused and added, "But who would you know that could have ever run into Lyra, let alone be in possession of such a powerful ghost?"

Gold's mind began to race as he scanned his memories for anyone who could have managed to do the impossible. And soon, it hit him. "Hélène," He said with determination. Lance, obviously not having met the woman, stared at him blankly. "Oh right. She's the nicest old lady you'll ever meet and she helped me figure out more about golbat attacks. She must've run into her somehow. It makes sense, seeing as Lyra disappeared at the Lake of Rage." He stopped his explanation and realized that the words he spoke were not helping him in his quest to save his friend. "I'm going right now. I can't afford to keep wasting my time, especially if she's there." The gengar smiled again and began levitating away, most likely towards Lyra's location. As Gold began to search the area for his things, Lance's words stopped him cold.

"What about the venom?"

That had completely slipped his mind. How could he have done such a thing? It was horrible, this tearing sensation. Two things that urgently needed to be accomplished were ripping him apart from the inside out. Should he save his friend, the girl he'd been searching for for days? Or should he attempt to make the antidote that could save her?

As if he could read his very thoughts as effortlessly as he did with Pokémon, Lance said, "You go to Hélène's house and get Lyra. I'll give this sample as well as the other one to Bugsy in Azalea."

A weight was lifted from Gold's shoulders and he nodded, knowing that he would save more time if he didn't have to do all of the running around on his own. How was he ever going to thank this man, who had already done so much for him in such a small amount of time? He would have to figure it out en route. Standing up, he rolled his sleeping bag up and threw it towards Lance. He checked his bags, to make sure he had everything, and released his quilava in order to shed light on his path. The gengar stopped its floating and waited for the boy to catch up. "Thanks, it means a lot that you're helping me out so much, Lance."

"Don't mention it," replied the Champion with a smile. As the man turned to leave, Gold's eyebrows furrowed slightly and he called out to him. "Wait!" The tamer turned back, awaiting Gold's statement. "If you're the Champion, shouldn't you have paperwork and battles to attend to? And shouldn't that get in the way of helping some kid like me?"

To his surprise, Gold was greeted with a warm and kind smile from Lance. For a man with such a serious profession, he seemed almost blissfully happy at this moment. "I don't think you'd believe me if I said this really _is_ my job."

xxXXxx

Archer stood sentinel in his office, peering into the room which used to hold his newest experiment and branded plaything. The bed was perfectly made and the lights were dim, alluding to the fact that life had not been present here in a while. He had made sure not to tamper with it since she had left, to remind him of the blemish that now sat like a bright stain on his perfectly crisp and white record. He had no idea why she hadn't returned, but he had a hunch as to who she was with.

As if the gods themselves had commanded it to be, his door opened and in came Proton, dragging an elderly woman behind him, no lack of force on the teal-haired man's part. The woman's face was a mix of disgust and pain, something that both pleased and disturbed the interim.

"Here she is, just like you asked," said Proton, a lack of any real emotion evident in his voice. "Lyra is being brought to her room as we speak."

"Yes, I see that…" replied Archer as he returned his gaze to the room, which, as the executive had recited, was now being gifted with the presence of its former inhabitant. The girl was set on her bed, albeit in a cold and callous way by an unknown grunt, and left there in her unconscious state. Nodding his head as the blemish began to reduce, the blue haired man returned his attention to his co-worker. "I assume your mission was easy, as usual?"

"Mostly, with no help from Nanny McPhee over here," grimaced Proton as he glowered menacingly at said nanny. The woman just returned the gaze, which was equally as frightening.

"Very well done, Executive. You may return to your duties."

The man inclined his head slightly and turned to leave, but not before kicking the elder in the back of the leg. He was matched with an equally painful blow to his shin before hobbling out of the office.

As the two adults were left alone in the stark and compact room, Archer couldn't help but allow the devious smile rise up on his face. His thoughts began to pool and collect, bringing with them a mix of odd but pleasant emotions.

"It has been so long since that fateful day in the woods, hasn't it?" he said, turning to face the woman directly.

She returned the smile, but hers was colder, hard-edged, like that of a thin sword. Alluring and captivating, yet deadly. "Fate did not ring its bells, Archer. Rather, it was the beating of a drum far more corrupted that spurred that meeting."

"My dearest Hélène, do you believe that I was corrupted back then?" He laughed, the one true thing he had done in years. It felt odd. Relieving and yet suffocating. "No, no, rather, it was my true path calling out to me and beckoning me forward."

"What will you do with the girl?"

That question put him on the edge. Teetering and wavering, taunted her sword.

"She is none of your concern. I do appreciate your taking care of her whilst I was unable to find her."

"What you have done to Lyra is shameful and corrosive. It is intoxicating her with an evil spirit that will kill her from the inside!"

"Almost as toxic as that golbat was to me?"

For once, Archer had gotten Hélène in a corner, once for which there just were no words of recompense. He smiled wider as he saw her lips open and close, once, twice, three times. Then there was there was a pause. Breathing. Shuffling. Waiting. He reveled in every eerie second that ticked by.

"Is Archer the name you go by now, dear friend?" asked the woman, breaking the silence and his brief sense of profound happiness. "It is so commanding…but I suppose that's what you've always wanted…Damian."

"That name holds nothing for me now," said Archer, venom stinging his voice. The memories of the olden days of laughter and freedom came rushing back to his mind, and, try as he might, he could not stop the waves of turmoil and happiness from unfurling. "As you should know already."

"Did you bring me here just to reminisce on the golden days of our impetuous youth?" She laughed at him and turned her back on him as if to leave."If you have no use for me, then I'd best be on my way."

Archer's houndoom suddenly leaped from its position beside its master and bounded in front of her, blocking the doorway and growling at her menacingly. Its teeth were bared and its eyes were burning. She turned her head slightly and heard the sound of laughter coming from behind her. She gritted her teeth slightly, knowing that she should've expected something like this to happen. What she didn't expect was for the same houndoom to jump onto her back, claws digging into her flesh and ripping at her clothes. Pain seared through her body as she felt the blood oozing from her skin all over. She bit back the urge to cry out, knowing it would only cause him pleasure. Before she knew it, her hair was a mess in front of her, a kaleidoscope of gray and brown. Tears brimmed her eyes, threatening to burst through the surface, but she held back. Slender fingers pulled her chin up gently and stroked her jawline.

"No use for you?" Archer said. She gasped at the expression he wore on his face. A cruel and twisted smile played on his lips and his eyes were fierier than even his Pokémon's. "My dear, there are so many ways I could use you."

**A/N: I have been planning that ending scene for weeks now. It finally happened! I'm surprised no one has caught on to the whole name thing, but maybe now people will start digging into it. Also apologies for the late update once again. This might happen sporadically.**


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